Batman: Shinobi Knight
by TheEverfreeBaron
Summary: Batman finds himself in the world of Naruto. He's already a great ninja in his world, so how amazing will he be if he learns how to use jutsu and control chakra? And how will Naruto Uzumaki's growth (as well as that of his friends and allies) be affected by the presence of the Dark Knight? Read to find out. Follows the basic narrative of Naruto Shippuden (with Batman in it).
1. The Arrival

**So, I had this idea for a while, and I decided to post it. This first chapter takes place at the tail end of Part 1, but chapter 2 opens with the beginning arc of Shippuden. What if Batman was a ninja in the world of Naruto? Well, that's what I'm gonna explore. **

**This story should follow cannon fairly well, but I'll definitely mix things up here and there, and you know what that means? No one is safe. Death or injury or ailment can affect ANY character, because this isn't Kishimoto's world; it's mine. **

**I don't own Naruto or Batman or anything from DC Comics.**

* * *

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time," Naruto threatened, fists ready to fight as the sun reflected through his pure blue irises, "who the hell are you?"

Batman remained silent and grim and prepared himself for the attack he knew was coming. He hadn't seen much, but from what he did see, he definitely wasn't in Earth anymore, not the Earth he knew. That, or this kid was something else entirely. The things he could do... run up trees, leap faster than any human, create copies of himself...somehow...he was either superhuman, or Batman was in unknown territory.

Almost before he knew it, several copies of the blonde boy ran forward in a chaotic frenzy and a loud battle cry pierced the air.

The first opponent jumped up and brought his fist down in an overhead strike, but Batman easily stepped aside and kicked the enemy. He burst into smoke and disappeared. There was no time to waste, as two more dashed at him from the left and right, and a third once again came from above.

Batman jumped up and grabbed the airborne attacker, throwing him into the two copies on the ground and breaking all three. Again, almost before he could react several projectiles were thrown his way and the Dark Knight was forced to retreat. Shuriken and knives of some sort. Straightforward and deadly. Many were thrown, but none connected with their target.

Batman expected another attack, but the few enemies that remained on the ground several yards away from him were standing still. Smiling and watching carefully, but not taking action.

Then the familiar smell of smoke and the odd explosives sound came from behind and another version of the boy was behind him, as if he had taken the place of one of the projectiles. Reacting on instinct, Batman grabbed one of the ninja stars from the air and threw it back at the boy, who blocked it with the knife in his hand. He hadn't hurt the boy, but he did force him down to the ground.

Batman wasted no precious second rushing the enemy behind him. He disarmed the unprepared boy in a single second and sprained his wrist the next. The boy cried out in shock at Batman's skill, then in pain at his actions.

The copies were already running at the stranger when Batman made sure the one he had was not a copy as well. He removed a needle from his belt and stuck it into the captive opponent's neck, drawing blood and pushing the boy's body past what the copy's bodies could take, confirming his suspicion.

Before Batman could put the syringe back in it's place, another shuriken came from the side and broke it into many pieces. A girl with pink hair had entered the field and was seemingly coming to aid the boy.

She leaped forward with the copies and attacked in sync with them, forcing Batman to release the real one and once more retreat. He threw down two smoke bombs and vanished while the copies searched and the girl went to aid the real boy.

"Naruto, what happened?" Sakura asked and helped her comrade off the ground.

"I don't know! This funny looking guy appeared almost out of nowhere. I tried getting information out of him, but he wouldn't talk; I think he's after me or something."

"Maybe."

From his spot in the shadows, Batman observed the girl heal the sprained wrist with relative ease and hands that glowed a teal-like color.

"Stay on guard," the girl commented as she peered out into the distance, "Maybe you should send one of your clones to find Kakashi sensei?"

"No way, I can take this guy!" The boy shot back.

"Naruto, use your head. He's already injured you, but how many jutsu has he used? I'm guessing not many."

"Fine, you win, Sakura."

One of the copies, or as they called them, clones, seemingly flickered out of existence. No doubt another power of many these people possessed. He needed to end this quickly and figure things out.

A swift kick to the head of one of the clones made it burst into smoke and the other two followed via Batman's quick and powerful punches to the gut and cheek. Now it was just the original boy, Naruto, and the girl, Sakura.

"Sakura, I'll use the rasengan!"

"Don't shout out the battle plan!" the girl scolded and ran at Batman. To her credit, if she feared him, she didn't show it. Her composure was fearless and stern.

Batman reached into his belt again and grabbed two batarangs. He threw them before he got within 15 yards of the girl, and she evaded them with ease. Or so she thought. By the time they got within 5 yards the batarangs had already reversed and flew back at their owner. The first caught Sakura on the lower leg, throwing her off balance and setting her up for the other to strike her on the back of the head and knock her down and out.

Batman ran past her now unconscious body and towards the boy.

"Sakura!" Naruto called out. Unlike her, he showed emotion. But it was not fear. It was anger. Determination. He had a drive to win. A deep drive.

A blue orb of pure energy, as far as Batman could tell, had amassed in the boy's hand and the two clones he had beside him a moment ago had jumped out to attack as the real one ran out as well.

Batman waited until the clones were almost in his face before he reached into his belt one last time and pressed a button. The clones cried out in pain as waves of electricity shot through their bodies and they dissipated into smoke like the others. The original boy, Naruto, was experiencing the same thing.

When Batman first grabbed a hold of the boy's wrist, he knew it was a golden opportunity and he placed a shock device there, to be used at the opportune moment. That moment was now, and Batman discovered how true that was when the boy fell to the ground and the orb of energy exploded in a violent showcase of immense power. Naruto himself was thrown at least 15 feet in the air by the force and hit the ground with a hard thud. Batman couldn't help but stare in wonder at his fallen opponents.

"You know," a third voice called from behind him, causing Batman's eyes to go wide underneath his cowl, "those are my students."

A new enemy appeared, and he was no child. His silver hair was spiked up and, like Batman, much of his face was covered. His tone was a contrasting mix of intensity and calm.

Batman threw several fists at the man, but he was Batman's physical superior, and dodged or blocked every attack, while Batman was having a hard time doing the same with the man's counterattacks.

The new enemy could also use clones, Batman discovered, when one kicked him from behind and sent him directly into a firm stab from the original. Batman's armor protected him greatly, but even if the wound didn't draw blood, it still hurt.

A precise attack to the neck made Batman's arm go numb and he staggered back as his overwhelming opponent took firm control of the battle.

"Now then," the man coldly spoke as lightning was generated from his hand, "if you give up now, you'll live."

…

"Wake up!" a stern voice called as Batman was struck across the face, snapping him awake.

Several men in masks watched over him while another in a black coat stood in front of him. He had scars on his face that told deep tales.

"Who are you? From what village do you come?" The man demanded.

Batman realized his belt was missing, along with his cape and cowl. His arms were bound behind him in firm shackles and the room was barely lit by a few candles. He had absolutely no idea where he was or how he could get away if the opportunity presented best option was to comply.

"...Gotham…" he answered bitterly.

His answer bought him another hard smack across the face. He spit out blood and looked up into his captor's unamused eyes.

"Where are you from?"

"I'm not from this world. Believe me or not, I can't give you an answer other than that."

The man in the trenchcoat turned his back to Batman and spoke stiffly to him.

"I am Ibiki Morino, the Head of The Leaf Interrogation Force. Right now, I am the one person in this world who can make your life somewhat pleasant, or absolute hell. If I don't get the answer I want, I can always show you what hell looks like. So...one more time. Where are you from?"

Batman didn't bother giving a reply, and within a moment, Ibiki laughed as the silent men in masks observed the process.

In an instant Batman was taken from that scene and plunged into utter darkness. A foreign presence was poking about his mind, he could tell that. The sound of a dripping faucet was the only other thing he could comprehend. He wasn't sure how long he'd been this way, nor how long it would go on, but he was stuck. He could not force his body into motion. His mind was trapped, being probed and scoured, probably from that man Ibiki.

He waited for a long time, or at least, what felt like a long time. Then an immense pain struck his mind and he tried desperately to scream out, but could not. Soon enough, he faded back into unconsciousness.

…

Who are you? What do you want here? Where do you come from? Questions rang through his mind as he awoke once more. He was still in the darkness, but it was even deeper this time. One of the candles must have gone out.

"Here he is," the man called Ibiki told someone by his side as two figures approached him.

Bruce was able to piece together that one of them was a woman. She was tall, blonde, and a powerful atmosphere followed her into the darkness of wherever he was being kept.

"He's a regular mystery, eh?" The woman asked.

"Indeed. I've searched his mind, had it confirmed by Inoichi...he is not from anywhere we know of, or if he is, his powers to conceal information are the best I've ever seen."

She turned directly to Batman and looked down at him with a hint of admiration.

"So, you're the enigmatic enemy who defeated Naruto and Sakura. Impressive, considering we haven't found any indication that you can use jutsu or chakra at all. We're not here to harm you. We only seek answers."

Batman stared her down through a black eye. He pondered how much he should say. How much they would believe. There was no reason to consider what was happening as absolute truth. He hadn't been able to figure out what happened to him before he woke up near the boy Naruto. It could all be an elaborate ruse. But if it gave him a chance to really figure things out...he might as well open up.

"I'm not from this world, I don't believe...I come from a city called Gotham. There, I defend it from criminals and those who would do evil and harm to it and the good people who live there. I don't know what happened to place me here, but before I could figure much of anything out, I was attacked by the boy...Naruto."

"That does sound like our own knuckleheaded ninja…"Tsunade mused.

"You can all do amazing things...jutsu...I believe. I cannot. Where I come from, I am a normal person. I have no powers. I can rely only on my own mind and tools and physical conditioning to stop evil."

Tsunade and Ibiki shared a glance. It seemed they were speaking without using words. Telepathy wouldn't surprise Batman at this point. Few things could.

"We will allow you to stay here, in the Leaf Village, with us if you'd like. You're free to leave and try and find your way back home to...Gotham, but the choice is yours. In fact...if you don't have any plans I might want to test you out. You seem apt at several of the shinobi arts already. If you wish to fight injustice here, too, then I'd be willing to make you a ninja of the Leaf."

"Thank you…" was the only thing Batman could bring himself to say. His shackles were removed, the binding ropes cut. He was given a box with his affects inside and lead out into the sunlit day above the village.

"How long have I been here?" Batman asked.

"Five days," Tsunade answered.

…

By the time one week had rolled around, Batman, back in full costume, had returned to the office of the Hokage. To her surprise, he was able to sneak in unnoticed by her guards and startled her into nearly dropping her cup of sake.

"I've considered your offer," Batman announced.

"Shinobi indeed…" She remarked.

"I want to find my way home...more than anything right now. That city...my past with it is extremely personal...but I also realize that injustice is injustice...and injustice is everywhere. Even here, in these lands. I cannot let innocents die, and the people here, in the Leaf Village, from what I can tell, are innocent. Pure. They deserve protection and the right to happiness. I'll help protect them any way I can as I search for a way home."

Tsunade smiled and set down her cup. She took out a few papers from her drawer and stood up, leading Batman outside.

…

"You...you don't have to do this, please! Please, don't!"

A swift swing of the knife slit the merchant's throat and he fell to the ground as the rain soaked him. A bloodcurdling laugh rang out among the trees. The lone figure stepped back inside the single shop along the dirt path and soon another corpse, this time a young woman, not yet a full adult, was thrown out into the chilling world. The figure walked on as the rain cleaned his knife and the shop raged in a burning inferno in the distant background.


	2. A New Threat

**Hello readers and fans alike. This story seems to be fairly popular, and I'm rather pleased to see this idea is interesting to others out there as well as myself. Well, this chapter is a tad short, and I would have gotten it out sooner, but school work has picked up now that second semester has started. For anyone who's ever had to do a poetry journal...well, you know my pain. I can't promise that these will be out on a weekly basis, as I have several other projects going at the moment, but I'll try. **

**Anyways, the action will really pick up in the next chapter, but this is an important one too. I hope you all enjoy it; remember, I don't own Batman or Naruto. **

* * *

He was all the talk in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and it was only natural. For two years now, he had been a silent protector. Hardly anyone had seen him, even many other shinobi had never laid eyes on the mysterious "Batman". But he was very real.

The stories told made him out to be the greatest ninja in existence, using stealth to the Nth degree to complete any objective given to him. Some of the wilder tales made Batman out as a living monster who fed on the blood of the enemys he slaid in battle. Either way, he had made a huge impact as an elite member of the ANBU, working alone and taking on missions of great risk, always coming back to the Hokage with a good report...or such was the word around the village.

In order to keep the mystique of the Batman, the Shinobi Knight of Konoha, alive, Lady Tsunade did not confirm or deny his existence to the public. Quite a few villagers disagreed with her choice, but according to his own wishes and the desire to bolster the reputation of the Leaf village, the Batman remained an enigmatic figure; not everyone believed he existed, but no one could deny that someone or something was fighting hard for the village every day.

In truth, however, Batman had made it a point to find a few close allies. Lady Tsunade, being the Hokage, naturally became a close one. He had also gotten to know Jiraiya before he left, and the two kept in contact via letters now and again. The Sannin had a theory or two to offer, having heard and seen many things over his years of traveling the world, about how Batman had ended up in the ninja world, and how he could leave it when the time came. And of course, since it was Kakashi and his students that had first encountered him, Batman kept an eye over them and would reveal himself to them once in a while (more so Kakashi than the esteemed Jonin's students).

After spending several months totally committed to learning the nature of chakra and how to control it, Batman was made an elite inside the ANBU. He was not part of any squad, but again, according to his wishes, he was given assignments to tackle alone. When the situation required it, there were other ANBU members who agreed to back him up and keep his existence a secret.

The rest of his time was spent looking into the great mystery of how he got where he was and how he could get back to the world he knew. He still couldn't remember anything about the night he was pulled away from Gotham, from his very existence as he knew it. He could recall so many things from his past life. His allies, greatest foes, his impact on Gotham City. But he could not remember anything about that fateful night.

With some help from a few individuals who led him in a different direction or two, he was able to make some progress, but he was nowhere near ready to test anything, nor did he have a solid idea of how to get back in the first place. He had grown fond of the Leaf Village, but knowing that Gotham had been without him for two years now pained him greatly inside. It was a raging inner fire that he could never extinguish...not until he made it back to the place of his birth and resumed his mission there.

In all, his existence in the world of Shinobi had become more defined, and he wished he could take some of these powers he had learned to access back with him, but he was almost sure that they would leave him the instant he returned. His natural affinity, in the wild world he had learned to live in, was the element of water. He liked it.

Water was so versatile, flexible but impactful, it could be used for many purposes and had varying degrees of power and speed. In a certain sense, water was what he wanted to embody in his war against evil. He had also begun studying the Wind affinity, and he admired it for the drive it could put behind his water attacks. Wind, too, was a potent element.

Batman was a name feared in the world he knew, in the city that was his. Now, it was a name to be feared in the world of ninja as well.

…

Two figures, garbed in cloaks of black, decorated with red clouds, walked quietly through the desert wastes near the Sand Village. One was tall, and blonde hair waved in the hot wind under a large hat that concealed the figure's face. The other cloaked person was much short, barely half the height of the blonde individual, and he seemed to lunge along with some difficulty.

"I hope you have a plan to capture the One-Tails," the smaller figure spoke out in a deep and menacing voice.

"Relax, Sasori, my man. I'll take care of everything," came the casual reply.

"I don't have to remind you that I'm not the only waiting on you, do I? Someone else in the organization already captured the Five-Tails; we'll be sealing both the biju at the same time. The clock is already ticking for us."

"Did we ever figure out who captured the Five-Tails?"

"The Leader didn't say...most of us aren't sure what Biju we're going after yet anyways. It could have been a complete accident that they met."

"Hmm."

"He and his partner will meet us at the Hideout. Just make sure you get in and out quickly. I really don't need you to drag things on."

"Will you calm down, I know what I'm doing," The blonde scolded.

They walked on, once more in silence, as the outline of the Sand Village began to appear in the haze of the desert distance.

…

Three shadows jumped along the treeline of the quiet forest, moving as a part of the night. They were hurried shadows, and they hustled along at a steady pace, relentlessly traversing deeper into the darkness before them. The full moon above the tree tops was the only source of light, and it did not reveal much.

A fair distance away from the three figures, though declining with every second as the pursuers continued on, was a lone figure, tired and slowing down. At last it stopped on a branch and kneeled down, unable to go on. Less than a minute later the pursuers caught up to the lone man.

"I've got him," One of the three remarked and flickered behind the runaway, grasping both of his arms tightly above his drooping head.

"No!" The second of three warned, but she was too late.

An explosion decimated the branch and instantly killed the ANBU member, throwing him to the ground violently, corpse still smoking. Beside him fell charred bits of a smoking log.

The renegade loner wasted no time in cementing his advantage as a volley of kunai knives were hurled at the two other ANBU. Neither was hurt, but the distraction allowed the runaway to resume his getaway.

The second figure jumped back at the realization that one of the many kunai had a paper bomb attached to it, but the third leaped ahead and ignored the danger, and was burned mildly by the blast as a result; he did not give up and chased after the loner, his partner not far behind him.

"You alright?" She asked loudly. No point in keeping quiet now that their target knew they were right behind him, after all.

"I'll make it," came the reply.

"If you want, you can dispose of Shiryo's corpse," the woman offered.

"Not a chance. He's mine."

"The stories are wrong; you're a real pleasant guy," she replied with a sarcasm laced quip.

Batman gave no answer to the comment.

The target looked back to check on his pursuers, and gave a noticeably irked expression upon discovering that they were once again catching up to him. The runaway lunged forward with as much speed as he could muster and turned midair, his hands weaving various signals.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

Batman was already forming the seals and his partner had jumped down to the ground to evade the repelling attack.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet," the female ANBU commented to herself as she attempted to get behind their target.

The barrage of small but agile and deadly fire blasts were met with a large dragon of water, gushing out and consuming the flames. Fire was superior to water, but not when the water jutsu was backed with enough chakra and force. Perhaps if the fleeing man wasn't as fatigued as he was the outcome would have been different, but Batman took every opportunity he could get. This world was, hard enough to believe, more touch and go than Gotham was...at least in some ways.

A large cloud of steam, the outcome of the clashing jutsu, enveloped the area and the running man hurried off again as best he could. He threw down a few trap wires, hoping to stall his pursuers, but as soon as he jumped out of the steam, a swift kick knocked him to the ground and the female ANBU jumped down beside him a second later.

Her target was quick to recover, but his heavy panting betrayed his condition. He was close to dropping in fatigue. Still, he was extremely dangerous until then, and she was quick to pull out a kunai knife as he did the same after rolling backwards and onto his feet.

They sprinted at each other, kunai clashing with loud clangs and shrieks. Her stamina and skills were far in advance of his, but his deception far outweighed her ability to react, and the next time they locked blades he threw a small pellet at her. It exploded on impact and surrounded her in a small vortex of black smoke, and she almost instantly dropped to her knees. He lunged forward to ram his kunai through her face, protected only by the ANBU mask, but just as the tip of the blade made contact with the mask, a firm hand grabbed him from behind.

A single, small crack appeared on the beak of the bird mask as the target's entire arm went numb and his leg was broken. He tried to scream out in pain, but before he could, Batman's hand was around his mouth and he was thrown onto the floor, the kunai flying away from his hand. A couple seconds later, Batman's foot was pressed firmly onto the side of the target's head.

"Where did you come from?" Batman demanded as his partner regained her bearings, panting just as heavily as the target had been a moment ago.

"W-What?" The man asked in horror.

"Where is Shiawasena's base?"

"I don't know...Shiawasena uses a different meeting place every time he summons me," he cried out briefly as Batman applied more pressure, "I've never even seen him before!"

"You thugs spout the same story every time I capture one of you," Batman deadpanned, "Unless you want a fate worse than death, I suggest you talk to me."

"I don't know anymore than that!"

"What where you doing before we began pursuing you?"

"I was dropping off the shipment," the target weeped as his hand stretched slowly forward.

Batman threw a shuriken, his own variation based off of his batarangs, into the man's hand and stopped it in place. The target flinched again and hit bit his lip as Batman knelt down closer to him.

"Give it to me."

The order was met with sincere cooperation as the man's eyes gestured into the sleeve of his numb arm beside him. The large coat he was wearing, with sleeves longer than his arms were, was torn off, revealing the man's chest and back, complete with various burns, scars, and other wounds. A few were fresh.

Batman pulled out a single box, no larger than that with which a man might propose to his girlfriend with. It was locked and sealed.

"How do I open it?"

"I wish I knew...Shiawasena hasn't revealed the secret of unlocking his shipments to anyone except his most trusted allies. I can't even give you the names of them!"

"You don't know who was going to collect this box?"

"Not a clue! I swear!"

The female ANBU had turned around and stepped away, puking into a nearby bush and resting against the tree. Batman stared down at the helpless criminal underneath his foot. Waiting.

"What about that smoke bomb, what was in that?"

"I don't-"

"Know," Batman finished, "tell me something I don't know that you do. Or else."

The criminal began stuttering, panicking at the thought of having Batman do any more harm to him, but he was able to squeal out something before Batman applied hurt him any further, "The name! The name of Shiawasena's organization!"

"What is it?"

"T...Tanoshi!"

"Anything else?"

"I don't know, I'm not that high up! I'd tell you more if I could, but Shiawasena is a hard man to impress. Getting high up with him is difficult, not to mention dangerous! Most of his recruits don't last more than a week or two!"

"Then we're done here," Batman replied as he stomped on the man's face, knocking him out and breaking his nose.

"Shiawasena...Tanoshi…" The female ANBU mumbled aloud.

"We're dealing with more than we originally thought," Batman admitted.

"What was our original thought?" she asked him as she stood back up, "The Hokage merely told us you'd stumbled onto a criminal ring."

"I thought it was black-market operations, simple illegal activity. But the secrecy, the enigma behind it all...whoever Shiawasena is, he has big plans, I'm sure of it. I don't see any reason for him to specifically target The Leaf, not yet anyways. But it could happen. We need to investigate further, find more leads."

"Well, first things first," she commented, pointing down to the criminal.

"We'll see if Ibiki can get anything else out of him," Batman said simply and walked towards the unconscious target.

"I imagine so," his partner returned.

"I'll take him."

"Then I'll get Shiryo's body," she agreed, then added with the slightest of hesitations, "By the way...that was excellent work. Thanks for saving me."

Batman nodded in reply and silently picked up the bleeding, broken man and leaped off into the night with his partner, and silence once again struck the woods.

…

"That makes four, if I'm not mistaken," Tsunade said as she skimmed through the mission report in her right hand.

"Yes."

"I see…" She trailed off and picked up a cup with her left hand, taking a big gulp of the drink before setting down the empty cup on her desk.

"This is concerning. Ibiki can probably get a bit more out of the captured criminal, but this package...it's an incredibly tough seal. It'll take at least a day or two to crack open. Even I may have to get my hands dirty in this ordeal," Tsunade informed, the report now lying flat on the desk and her hands collected on the tip of her chin.

"I have a couple of ideas concerning new leads, but it'll take some time. I can't say when I'll be back."

"This issue does concern me...but not as much as another issue that's arisen."

"And what's that?" Batman inquired as the evening sky glimmered through the Hokage office windows.

"Gaara of the Sand, the Fifth and reigning Kazekage, has been abducted by the criminal organization Akatsuki."

Batman's teeth gritted together slightly more as Tsunade went on.

"We believe they plan to kill him and seal the Biju inside of him to use for their own purposes later on. I've already sent out a team, but I think they might be in over their heads. I need you to go and back them up before you return to investigating Tanoshi and Shiawasena."

A small pause ensued and Batman seemed to stare off into the space beyond Tsunade, or at least she thought he was. It was hard to determine what he was thinking, especially with that cowl on. She wondered if he would refuse her.

"Alright."

"I sent Team Kakashi to the Sand village. They have several hours on you. You'd better leave as soon as possible."

"Understood…"

He waited for her nod of approval before he left, silently and quickly.

Naruto was back in the village. It had been years since last they saw each other. He wondered how much the blonde boy had grown. Watching Naruto's friends and allies grow only made him more curious as to the work he had done with Jiraiya.

Batman returned hastily to his living quarters, a small, private chamber in the same stone wall where the Hokage faces watched over the village. The single candle he'd left ablaze the previous night was almost gone and burning away slowly. He gathered his gear, replaced the tools he'd used, and retrieved a wireless headset and a map. After also grabbing a roll of bandages and a small vial of ointment, he left his "lair".

Then he was off, flying through the dark forest again. He didn't plan on stopping anytime soon, but there were definitely nights when he missed the Batmobile; but the Batman never rested, not in body or spirit. He was always ready to punish criminals who forsook justice.

…

Far away, in a secret location, ten figures assembled. They stood on the fingers two giant hands, reaching upwards as if holding the key to human salvation. Six of them were holograms, representations of ninja that were not there. Four stood there in the flesh, concentrating on the task at hand, as if the holograms were puppets following their deeds.

"Keep in mind," one of the holograms voiced, "this will take three days and nights. To seal two Jinchuuriki at the same time, though...it will be an unstable process."

"Then let's get to it," the same short figure replied in a hasty tone.

"Indeed." The same hologram replied.

The two bodies floated up into the air as a field of blue energy came out of the mouth of the giant head in front of the hands. The bodies were lifted up and held in place as the energies of the tailed beasts inside them were extracted, slowly killing them.

Great laughter rang out as the Jinchuuriki were slowly killed.


	3. Confrontation: Akatsuki

**Welcome back to this story, and the third chapter. As promised, things are really heating up this time and there's more to come in the next chapter too. I enjoyed writing in the characters that you'll soon see interacting with our hero, and some of them will be back next time. **

**I'd like to point out that this story only loosely follows canon, and I simply can't show every fight that the series does, especially since the main focus is Batman. Still, there's quite a few epic battles and giggles to be had.**

**On that note, here's an extra disclaimer: I'm not the most adept writer when it comes to certain characters, and one such favorite of mine makes his official debut in this chapter. I will do my best to portray him faithfully and as in-character as I can. But no promises. **

**Please enjoy with the solemn and regular reminder that I do not own Naruto or anything from DC Comics (but I will gladly accept any and all reviews). **

* * *

He was closing in on Team Kakashi, yet something didn't feel right. They had stopped, but not because they were tired. He tried getting in contact via the wireless radio system, but Kakashi's wasn't on. He grabbed a food pill from his belt and hurried on.

…

"Naruto! Are you Alright?" Kakashi called out as he slid backwards.

"Wh-What happened...to me?" Naruto asked in confusion, seemingly awakening from a dream.

Sakura and Lady Chiyo were by his side. In front of them all was Sasuke's older brother: Itachi Uchiha.

"You were caught in a genjutsu," Sakura informed him, her hand still pressed firmly on his shoulder.

Naruto seemed disappointed at the news, pondering how it could have happened as the reality of his situation came back to him.

"I'm afraid he's not using any genjutsu," the elder lady to his other side said grimly.

"No," a new voice affirmed from behind the scenes, "he's a user of the Sharingan."

Batman flew out of the treeline and landed behind Naruto and the girls. He approached them slowly as Itachi began analyzing his new foe.

"Batman?" Naruto uttered as Sakura looked shocked. Kakashi dared not take his eyes off of Itachi, but he made an approving sigh. Chiyo looked more intrigued than anything else. The Leaf held many spectacular ninja, but even she wasn't sure if the Batman was one of them.

"A new contender…" Itachi mused to himself as he stood like a statue, arms by his side and head looking directly forward.

"What're you doing here?" Sakura asked as Batman moved beyond the three and stopped halfway to Kakashi.

"The Hokage sent me as aid. Looks like I got here just in time."

"You can say that again...he's skilled. He's probably the toughest opponent I've ever faced," Kakashi greeted.

"Then you, me, and Naruto will have to gang up on him."

Naruto flashed a confident grin and stepped forward. He fastened his headband around his head as Kakashi informed Batman about their enemy.

"Look into his eyes and it'll be over for you. He's a master of genjutsu, but be wary of his taijutsu and ninjutsu skills. He's also extremely clever. All said and done, he's pretty tough in every respect."

Sakura and Chiyo steeled themselves, and in the blink of an eye Naruto, Kakashi, and Batman charged forward at their Akatsuki opponent. Itachi produced a shadow clone and sent in running in opposition of his three attackers.

Kakashi hurled several kunai at the clone, but it blocked every one with incredible speed. The real Itachi let no single second go to waste and fired off several blasts of fire with the Phoenix Flower Jutsu, and multiple speeding bullets of flame honed in on the three Konoha shinobi.

Batman and Kakashi shared a quick glance and combined their Water Style: Water Wall jutsus to block out the flames. As the water wall came down the Itachi clone lunged forward and sent a quick, devastating kick into Batman, who barely got his arm up in time to block and negate some of the damage.

Naruto jumped overhead and brought his fist down on the clone, who disappeared in a plume of smoke. They hurried on without hesitation and continued their rush attack, Kakashi leading the charge.

Itachi remained in place, but summoned a swarm of crows and sent them as the next wave of opposition. Batman and Kakashi were able to avoid most of the attacks, but Naruto was having trouble keeping up. Batman pushed on, and Kakashi grabbed a hold of Naruto and took them both underground with his Earth Style jutsu, and the swarm of crows disappeared into smoke.

By the time Batman was within 20 feet of Itachi, the Akatsuki member still did not look worried. Batman began forming seals, but stopped when he realized what had been done.

"Kakashi!"

An explosion from underground rocketed both Naruto and Kakashi into the air. Naruto's arm was burned badly and they were both knocked high into the air, then hardly landed on the ground.

Sakura arrived to aid her sensei and fellow pupil, and with Chiyo, took them both a bit further away from where Batman was now facing Itachi, alone.

"What happened?" Naruto asked and gritted his teeth while Sakura healed his arm.

"Itachi's clone," Kakashi revealed as he recovered from the blast, "he planted explosive tags in the ground while we were running at him. I didn't notice until it was too late. I'm sorry, Naruto."

"It looks like we may have to get our hands dirty, Sakura," Chiyo noted as Itachi sent a barrage of shuriken at Batman, who has having a hard time avoiding them as he got closer and closer.

At last Batman got within striking distance of his Uchiha foe, but true to Kakashi's words, Itachi was a more than capable combatant. A fast knee dashed up towards Batman's face, only for the Dark Knight to catch it. From the sleeve of the Akatsuki cloak came the edge of a kunai blade that forced Batman to dash backwards.

Another clone was already on the attack from behind as Batman moved to the side, in order to get both his opponents in front of him. Relying on tried and true tactics, Batman let go of two smoke bombs and hoped he had enough time to set up his edge.

He formed seals and used the Water Syrup Trap jutsu, just finishing as one of the cloaked men swung a kick from behind; Batman leaped up and back-flipped over his enemy, placing a tag on the opponent's shoulder as he did so.

He landed onto the other Itachi's fist and he was sent backwards, rolling to a stop a few feet away. It was imperative that he reach the Syrup Trap, but his enemies weren't giving him an inch. He activated the tag and the clone exploded, but the real Itachi didn't seem to notice.

Having gotten to his feet, Batman armed himself with two "bat-shuriken" as the smoke at last disappeared.

Itachi dashed forward so quickly Bruce barely saw him and a second later, Itachi was lifting himself up on Batman's shoulder, avoiding the reactionary swing of the kunai. Itachi landed behind Batman, a firm grip still on Bruce's shoulder, and he threw the caped vigilante backwards with surprising force.

A small trail of blood leaked from Batman's lower lip as a war cry penetrated the air.

"CHA!"

A small crater opened up as Sakura's fist struck the ground where Itachi was standing a moment ago.

"What happened to Kakashi and Naruto?" Batman called out as Sakura turned to attack the ever calm Itachi once again.

"Lady Chiyo is treating Naruto's arm!" She called back and brought down a devastating kick, which though it held more force than her initial strike, also missed.

"And Kakashi?" Batman asked as he flickered in front of Itachi and delivered several punches, all of which were blocked or avoided; Itachi bent down and swept his leg forward, causing Batman to jump up, and then Itachi dashed back, gaining a bit more distance between the two attackers and himself.

Itachi unleashed the Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu before Sakura could reply, forcing the two to dodge the massive orb of flames that sped their way. Seizing the opportunity, Sakura jumped forward with another attack, only for Itachi to continue dashing backwards.

Batman realized too late what Itachi's plan was, and the next time Sakura went to attack she got herself caught in the Syrup Trap; Itachi had recognized it through the smoke, thanks to Sharingan, and had been waiting to exploit it when Batman's allies returned to the fight. He should have let Sakura know.

Itachi's feet glowed with chakra as he ran forward, kunai again poking out of the long sleeve, aimed at Sakura's heart. Batman had no alternative, and he went out on a limb with an idea he wasn't sure would work.

The kunai blade was directly in front of Sakura's chest when the Syrup Trap around the two morphed upwards in a ball and caught Itachi's entire hand; the Akatsuki member seemed extremely shocked as he attempted in vain to retrieve his hand from the orb of adhesive liquid.

"Great timing!" Kakashi called as he lunged at the Trap, his hand lit ablaze with the lightning blade. He struck the trap with it as Itachi jumped up and forced his hand out of the syrup.

He did not avoid the lightning entirely, and he was shaken and unable to properly evade as Naruto struck from the air in front of Itachi's retreating figure.

"Rasengan!"

The spiraling blue orb hit its mark and Itachi's chest had a hole blown right through it, blood exploding out onto Naruto and tainting the syrup below it. Oddly, it seemed Itachi smiled through bloody lips as Naruto's entire arm, the very same one which had been burned and treated a moment ago, powered through Itachi's body.

The corpse hit the syrup with a splash as the clear-bluish liquid turned a vial purple. They were shocked to see that, rather than the Uchiha Prodigy, it was an unknown man wearing the Akatsuki garb.

Chiyo gasped when she laid eyes on the dead man, "Yura?"

"You know him?" Kakashi questioned as the elderly lady stepped towards the rest of the group.

"He's a member of the Sand Council, someone that worked closely with Gaara every day," Chiyo answered, eyes looking down sad and confused.

"I've never encountered a jutsu like this," Kakashi noted as they took a minute to mull over the odd situation.

"This is a pretty deep jutsu," Batman explained looking at the body and checking the various wounds, "considering how the puppet could use signature and key moves. If you weren't fooled," he said, turning towards Kakashi, "then this jutsu is one of the deadliest I've ever heard of."

"Yeah, that was bizarre," Naruto added his two cents, "I could have sworn I was actually facing him…"

Batman recognized the conflict within Naruto. Proving one's strength or capabilities to others was sometimes easier than proving them to yourself. He'd heard of the time Itachi encountered Naruto and his friend Sasuke a couple years back. He understood Naruto's feelings more than anyone else there. They set off again in silence, but Naruto, it seemed, was the quietest of them all.

…

"It's over," Itachi commented to his peers as he returned focus to the sealing process.

"I just finished myself," Kisame added.

"At first I only faced four, but soon afterwards a fifth shinobi came to their aid," Itachi explained.

"Anyone we should be concerned about?" Their leader inquired.

"I did not recognize him, but he was skilled. He might be a problem yet."

"Oh well; that body double wasn't near your full strength, and besides, we'll be done in a few more minutes."

"It was rather fun to play around with them for a bit," Kisame said, "I envy you four. You get the real deal."

"I'm no fighter," Zetsu commented, clearly a bit annoyed with the idea of running into opposition.

"You'll be fine. With the four of you here, I trust you'll be able to put down any trouble," their leader affirmed.

…

"It's a Five-Seal Barrier," Chiyo explained as the two groups merged at the base of the river that ran along the Sand-Leaf border in that area.

"That's a tough security measure to crack," Kakashi commented.

"What do we have to do?" Guy asked, obviously unaware of such a thing's existence before now.

"There are, as the name suggests, five seals somewhere in the area. We must remove all five seals-at the same time," Chiyo answered.

"Nonsense," Guy replied with enthusiasm, "I'll just bust it open!"

"That is the Guy-sensei I love and know!" Lee cheered; Neji and Tenten tried to look the other way at their master's antics.

"It would be wiser to-" Batman was cut off as Guy prepared himself, starting a cry of determination that gradually raised in volume and intensity.

"Dynamic Entry!" Guy screamed.

He lunged forward with intense speed and strength. The instant his foot touched the wall, he was repelled and thrown away, rolling ungracefully backwards; he finally stopped only when his head hit a large rock near the river's bank, cracking it slightly.

"Guy-sensei!" Lee called and rushed to his master's side.

Kakashi looked particularly annoyed at his rival's actions, but the most annoyed were, once again, Neji and Tenten. Naruto seemed a bit let down too, clearly expecting more from "Bushy Brow Sensei" than had been shown.

"That all changed when the rock barrier rumbled and slowly raised.

Lee and Guy gasped. The others looked on in amazement. Guy slowly pulled himself up and began jumping up and down and posing triumphantly.

"Yes! The Noble Blue Beast strikes again! Feel the power of youth, _foolish rock_!"

When the entrance was fully revealed, four figures stepped out into the light of day. To the far right was a humanoid-plant, it seemed, with two distinct faces. In the far left was the short figure, and beside him, his taller, blonde partner, who was notably missing an arm now. The last spot was filled by a man who made Batman's eyes go wider than they'd gone since he was eight years old.

"Baby!" Joker called out in relief and extreme glee, "I've missed you so!"

There was no mistaking it. The Clown Prince of Crime had made it to this world as well. The only upside was that Gotham was spared of his cruel evil; now, however, the ninja world was in danger of his malevolent nature and unpredictable power.

Batman's most dangerous foe was dressed in an Akatsuki cloak, seemingly having abandoned his purple suit. His hands were bare as well, revealing his pitch-black fingernails. Other than that, he hadn't changed at all. Same malicious smile, same offsetting green hair, same deep eyes of pure evil. And yet, in this rare instance, his eyes held more than evil. His eyes were filled with an evil love.

"You know him?" Deidara asked as The Joker opened out his arms, as if silently calling the Batman to come and embrace him.

"Know him? Me and Batsy go way back. I've kicked his ass, he's kicked mine; we've had some real laughs together!"

"What's his story?" Kakashi quietly asked Batman as the Dark Knight tensed up.

"He's bad news. I'll take him, alone, if possible."

"We can help," Naruto encouraged, hand curled into a tight fist.

"There's no reason for you to get in the way," Batman scolded, "you don't know him. You have no idea the depth of his madness."

"Flattery will get you everywhere-but not after two years of no calls and no letters!" Joker quipped.

"But-" Naruto's protest was cut short by Kakashi's silent arm, raised up and blocking Naruto from advancing forward.

"He can take care of himself," Kakashi ordered, "but if you do need help," he told Batman, "ask."

Batman nodded and stepped forward, as did Joker. They said nothing to each other, and no one felt the need to interrupt their reunion. In the end, some evil could not be vanquished.

"Since I know you could use a hand," Joker said, turning to Deidara, who cursed the clown under his breath for the joke, "how about I take a couple of them down right now?"

"Let's get this over with," Sasori demanded.

"I won't be much help here. I have an appointment to keep anyways," Zetsu told his comrades as he disappeared into the ground, retreating before the battle broke out.

"Ready?" Joker asked with a kunai in hand, glistening in the sunlight, "No? Then it sucks to be you!"

Joker was almost as fast as Itachi, maybe just as fast. He dashed forward and ran his knife through Chiyo's stomach violently. She didn't have time to react, and cried out in immense shock and pain as the blade tore through her organs. Kakashi and Batman both dashed at Joker, but he was gone again as they got to Chiyo.

Sakura laid the Sand Elder down and began treating her immediately as Lee stood guard. Joker moved on to Neji next. The Hyuuga clansman was able to block the attack, however narrowly, and he sent a chakra charged palm into Joker's chest, throwing the villain back near his fellow Akatsuki.

"Good job," Deidara mocked. Joker frowned and looked a bit agitated as he picked himself up.

"Fine, we'll do things differently," Joker conceded amid brushing the dirt off his cloak.

"It's over!" Batman promised as he threw several bat-shuriken at his old nemesis, who easily dodged them and rushed towards the group again.

He got in Batman's face, the hero preparing to strike Joker with enough force to shatter rock and take him out the fight for good, but within a fraction of a second, Joker was gone again. His speed was always a problem, but with chakra enhanced speed, The Joker was nigh impossible to catch.

He flickered back into existence behind Neji, Tenten, and Guy, laughing menacingly as they all went wide-eyed and fell into his attack.

...

The rescuers were sent to a plane of darkness and silence. It didn't last long, though, as fireworks went off in the distance. Underneath them, the floor shook and confetti popped into existence all around them.

"Lady and Gentleman-and whatever you are, with the awful hair!" Joker's voice announced, ringing in the air, "welcome to The Joker's Funhouse, version two!"

The three shinobi formed a circle with their backs and watched as tokens from some horrendous nightmare began springing out of the shadows: balloons with smiling faces, gesturing mannequins, odd gases, strange, neon colors, voracious laughing, and furnaces emitting blazing fires.

"I guarantee you'll have a smile on your face by the end of your experience...of course you'll also be dead, but at least you get to go out laughing, eh?"

Smoke whirled into the shape of a man, and a version of The Joker, this time in a purple suit and trousers, stood with hands locked behind his back, watching the visitors with a steady smile on his face.

"This is genjutsu...very, very strange genjutsu," Neji confided in his teammates.

"Can you break us free Neji?" Tenten inquired as The Joker began walking towards them amid the madness of his own design.

"I'm not-"

"Nope," Joker answered in his stead, "Sorry, this is a one-way only funfair. You come in, and you never leave."

Guy charged a powerful fist strike, but upon contact, the Joker figure reverted into mist and idled along the path Guy had sent it. A few seconds later, it reformed itself into the clown once again.

Guy tried again and again, and Tenten looked on with shame, "Doesn't he know he can't win like that?"

"Who cares, he's buying time," Neji commented as he concentrated on the genjutsu.

Finally, Joker got tired of Guy's fierce fury, and summoned a furnace under his feet, singing the taijutsu master's legs and throwing him back in pain. He tried crawling away, but Joker soon flipped Guy over with his foot and revealed a blade that descended from the back of the sole.

Tenten dashed forward to save her master, but another incarnation of Joker flashed up and caught her, arresting her by the wrists and holding her back, as she watched on helplessly.

"Neji!" She called out after a short struggle.

The Hyuuga looked ready to fight off the Joker's presence, but suddenly, he grabbed his head and fell to the floor, crying out for a moment before falling utterly silent.

"And here I thought I told you-no one leaves _my_ funfair."

Neji's figure, now curled into a fetal position, shook and quaked as Joker began speaking to Guy, who could not find it within himself to move, "As for you, I'm afraid you've left this poor girl all alone. Don't worry though, we've a generous severance package," he taunted as a smile formed, lowering the knife a bit and steadying his aim over Guy's determined face, "as you'll both soon see."

Guy did not cry out, but a steady trail of blood flowing from his head was all Tenten could bear to see as tears fell from her face and she stopped resisting Joker's double.

Joker's gloved hand touched her cheeks lightly as his first form stood in front of her, "There, there. You'll be dead too in just a moment. First, though, I've got a favor. I've lost count of how many thousands of people I've killed over the years. Think you could send back a note?"

Tenten shuddered at the thought and whimpered as the Joker ran his fingers along her cheeks and chin delicately, "No. I suppose I not. I guess I'll just have to start all over. And you'll make three!"

Joker's blade slashed through her neck swiftly, but not at all painlessly, and she fell as Joker began laughing energetically.

…

Back in the real world, Batman hurried towards his old enemy as Neji, Guy, and Tenten dropped silently and limply to the ground. Batman ran past them as Joker retreated in a bit of a panic.

Batman cursed his foe in a growl and rushed forward with all he could muster while the pale faced Akatsuki member called out insults, dashing into the treeline, "Do you know that even in a foreign country you're dressed like a weirdo? Keep away from me, you flying freak! Rape! Rape!"

The two were finally gone as Lee rushed over to the rest of his squad. Sakura had finished healing Chiyo, but she was hunched over and clutching her stomach weakly.

"Sakura, how are they?"

"They were in a genjutsu," she informed them, "I don't know who that...Joker guy..is, but he's strong. He made them think they actually died. They're bodies are rapidly shutting down!"

"Can you save them?" Naruto asked with worry as Lee stood gasping.

"Yeah, I have a few medicines that will help them," Sakura assured as she opened her ninja pouch up.

"If you're quite done," Sasori interrupted, "I'd like to get this over with."

"I'll take the Nine-Tails," Deidara said with a cocky edge to his voice.

"You already got the One-Tails," Sasori scolded, "and you lost a limb in that fight. Do you really think you can survive another battle like that?"

"Just watch the explosions from a safe distance."

"Very well. Get yourself killed and I get a new partner anyways; it's a win-win for me."

"Hey!" Naruto broke up their conversation, barely controlling himself, "where's Gaara?"

Deidara smirked and Sasori let out a brief chuckle.

"Here's the plan," Kakashi whispered to his remaining allies, "Naruto and I will lure off the blonde. Sakura, you and Lee, and if you're up to it, Lady Chiyo, will have to take out the third one."

"Agreed," Chiyo weakly said from the sidelines as everyone's face became more determined.


	4. Like Old Times

**My apologies to the readers and fans of this story; schoolwork was brutal this past week and I've been putting hours into my other fics too, across the many places where I post stories. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and while I can't promise when the next one will be out, as usual, I can tell you it will get here, sooner or later. **

**I also want to remind you guys that this is a story about Batman first and foremost, thus some fights and/or content from the Naruto storyline will be trimmed and/or cut out cough cough Sasori fight cough ...**

**I still don't own either of these properties. **

* * *

"Sakura," Lee asked with a shaken voice, "will they be okay?"

His eyes never left the prone form of his master, and Sakura smiled in reply, patting Lee's shoulder gently, "I've treated them. They'll regain consciousness within a few hours. It was a good thing I was here; if left untreated, they'd have been dead in minutes."

'_Genjutsu can be that powerful?'_ Lee questioned inside his mind.

"They'll be fine," Chiyo said, not facing the others, but at Sasori, "and we will too...as soon as we deal with him."

…

Deidara flew over the green landscape with a wide river flowing through. Two figures chased him down from the riverside, closely following him wherever he went. He smirked atop his clay bird, preparing himself, as they were doing. His art was much harder to perform with only one hand, but he wasn't hinder enough to fail.

From below, Naruto muttered curses as the whiskers on his cheeks became more defined and his teeth began to show signs of morphing. He was spurred on by the thought of Gaara's fate as Deidara's words rang through his head.

~Flashback~

"Where's Gaara?" Kakashi asked Deidara and Sasori with a firm voice and a hand inside his ninja pouch.

"That deadbeat loser from the Sand?" Deidara mocked, "we killed him."

Naruto shook with rage and his fists curled up so tightly he was almost bleeding. Kakashi put his free hand on Naruto's shoulder. Deidara sensed the discord he was creating and pushed on.

"He wasn't too tough. Maimed my arm well enough, the bastard. Still, he's dead. Rotting in hell. And here I am, walking alive and well."

"Except for that arm," Sasori cut in, much to his partner's silent chagrin.

"And eye for an eye," Kakashi quoted the old adage with a dangerous tone, "eh, Naruto?"

"Right!"

"Tch," Deidara spat and unleashed his clay bird, hopping atop it and flying upwards as Kakashi and Naruto went in pursuit, leaving the remaining three conscious team members to handle the last of the three Akatsuki.

~End Flashback~

"Okay Naruto, I've got a special jutsu prepared for him, but we'll have to keep our distance until I'm ready," Kakashi instructed.

"And when will that be?" Naruto asked in a voice filled with pulsing energy.

"Hey, I'm not exactly a young sprite like you, just a few minutes and we'll be ready to move."

Naruto nodded in approval and increased his pace slightly, eager to catch the man that had killed his friend from the Sand Village. He hadn't looked down at them in a while. He was almost ready to make his move, too.

…

A ways away, Joker had finally stopped his retreat, and he faced down his only equal, his only other Gothamite in this world, and the only person he loved; Batman did not look happy at all. His scowl was deeper, more fueled than Joker had seen in a long time. It made him laugh.

They started their dance in the usual way. Batman charged forward in a show of brutality and physical depth. Joker sprang his trap, in this case, he threw several kunai at his partner, with tags wrapped around the slender bases. Batman avoided them all but one, which he grabbed from midair and threw back.

As soon as it left his hand, though, the tag went off and a cloud of gas shot into the air. He dashed out of the blue mist and dropped to his knees. His vision shook, his ears rang, and hands tremored involuntarily.

Joker looked on with a coy smile and threw one last kunai into the side of Batman's head, and a water clone dissipated into the river. The next instant, Batman lunged up out of the water and grabbed Joker's throat with a hulking hand. Joker tripped himself and he rolled back onto the river; he tried to kick Batman away, but was unsuccessful and Batman was able to hold Joker down.

"Did this world...teach you how to kill?" Joker asked with intrigue.

"I'm not a killer. Not in Gotham, not here. You won't be killed by my hand. Ever."

Joker did his best to laugh at the hilarity behind that statement and squirmed to get free as he responded, "We'll see."

"I'm taking you back to the Leaf Village. The Hokage will do with you as she sees fit."

"So you _have_ become one of those tree-hippies! I tell you, it took me a while to see how I fit in around here."

"The only place you'll ever fit in is Arkham," Batman dismissed.

"Yeah, I know. That's why I've decided to kill everyone instead," Joker answered with another attempted laugh, and Batman eased the hold a bit to allow his enemy to breath.

"We're done here," Batman decided and brought a strong fist into The Joker's face, knocking him out.

As Batman picked up the skinny figure hidden within the cloak, he saw a small pellet drop and another cloud of blue gas exploded into the air. This pellet's radius spread farther and wider than the last one, and Batman jumped up to the cliffside to avoid being affected, dropping The Joker in the process.

He jumped up to the bank high above the river and performed a water jutsu to wash away the gas. The Joker had already jumped up to the opposite bank, his earlier unconsciousness revealed as another act. He was laughing hard at Batman's furrowed brow, the outline of which showed through the mask.

They prepared themselves and jumped towards one another, meeting in the middle and clashing above the flowing river. Batman's firm and swift gut-strike was avoided, but Joker's chop to the neck was not, though the padding in his cowl took off the edge of the attack.

It was odd and rare for Joker to get in a hit like that. They landed on the opposite sides and faced down one another again. Joker's grin had only gotten wider as the fight progressed. They leaped at one another again, but a stream of water shot up from the river to catch The Joker as Batman drew nearer.

Joker's legs were trapped inside the water vortex and Batman landed a decisive punch that made Joker flip several times in the air as he fell down. The clown's body sank into the river's abyss as it hit the surface.

It was actually a fairly deep river, and Batman had already begun forming seals to bring Joker with a water jutsu, but the clown beat him to it. A pillar of stone from the river floor, somewhere deep below, lifted Joker up and into the air. He inhaled with the spirit of a voracious man and watched Batman observe from the water below.

"Here," Joker told his foe, "this one's on _you!_" He did a handstand and flipped back so that his foot landed on the side of the pillar. He kicked it fiercely with his other foot and a section of the rock pillar went flying at Batman, who was able to avoid the attack with relative ease.

Joker landed on the water with a slight limp; it seemed that even here physical strength and brute force were not his forte. Still, unlike Gotham, Joker was able to pull off a couple of good physical attacks without any tricks or tools on his side. Every time they faced the madman only got better.

The rock pillar sank back into the depths as Batman rushed his foe again. Their figures met beside the still descending pillar and Batman let a batarang fly to put Joker off guard, allowing him a swift and strong shot in Joker's chest.

The chest, followed by the rest of the body, turned to stone as Batman's impact ran through it and the real Joker sprung up from the top of the pillar; he jumped down and put a deep, long cut down Batman's back as the pillar was finally submerged.

"Remember, I'm always a stone's throw away!" Joker taunted, but soon frowned as the figure of Batman dissipated into water.

"Damn," Joker cursed as Batman sprang up from the water behind Joker and kicked him into the wall of rock that bordered the river. The force that propelled his body caused the stone to weaken and crack as he impacted, and he spit up bloody saliva upon striking it.

Batman rushed forward and flickered over to Joker's left side, taking him by surprise and getting a sequence of brutal shots in on the clown. After the last jab to Joker's ribs, Batman seized his foe's wrist and bent it backwards. A snap and howl of deep pleasure, sprinkled with pain, erupted.

A final chop to Joker's shoulder put the Akatsuki's green haired psychopath off his feet.

"This ends," Batman growled, "Now."

"No, not yet," Joker replied matter-of-factly, "But I've gotta say, it's great to have you back!"

"I can't say the same, so I'll let my fist say it for me."

Batman's arm pulled back and his muscles tensed in preparation, but he felt a searing pain running through his entire body before he let it go; in seconds he was on his hands and knees beside Joker.

"I told you it wasn't over yet," Joker chuckled.

"What did you do?" Batman wondered as what felt like napalm ran through his veins and his muscles went so numb he thought they had been removed.

"I admit, a chemist is a man alone in this world, but he is a man with many options. Took me over a year to brew up that pretty poison."

"The gases…"

"World's greatest detective indeed!" Joker jeered, "That's right. When combined, they attack the nervous system and bring on quasi-paralysis. Making it a lot easier to do whatever I want with you. By the way, do you prefer a topside view?"

"Go to hell!"

"Certainly; after you!"

Batman was almost instantly caught in Joker's genjutsu, and everything except the pain went away. If his theory was correct, Joker utilized a fast acting, paralyzing genjutsu cast by sound, probably his voice. If he could block his ears, cut off his hearing temporarily, he could find a way to win. But in order to do that, he had to withstand whatever sick torture Joker's mind had concocted.

…

"Son of a-" Naruto was cut off when a clay bird flew at him with intense speed, and promptly exploded.

He flipped back out of the smoke cloud and landed in a sea of small, deformed clay creatures that were all connected to their opponent's hand. Kakashi was making quick work of them with his lightning blade, but their numbers were many and increasing as Deidara pumped more chakra into the jutsu.

Naruto attempted once again to get closer to the Akatsuki member and jumped over the many clay beasts, but Deidara's fail safe was already working as another clay bird from the sky above rocketed down in a suicide drop.

Naruto formed a shadow clone and sent it towards the bird in a suicidal dash of his own; they met and the force was enough to knock Naruto down several feet in front of Deidara. With his right hand preoccupied with Kakashi, and his left long gone, Deidara jumped around to avoid Naruto's straightforward but solid barrage of taijutsu attacks.

Kakashi pounced forward at the sight and tore through any clay beasts in his way; a firm strike with the lightning blade ripped Deidara in half, but a laugh from above as many birds rained down on them was the first indication of a clone jutsu at work. The real criminal continued to laugh in triumph from above as he threw down several more clay animals, in miniature form.

"Go!" Kakashi urged as the two scattered and retreated towards the river.

From the skies, Deidara pursued the duo, but ceased his attacks, knowing his chakra and detonating clay had limits. It didn't take long for Naruto to catch on, and he threw back several projectiles in a feeble counter-attack before Kakashi stopped him.

"Hold it!" He told his subordinate, "I have the perfect jutsu to take him out, we just have to evade him a little longer; the river is our best bet. I need you to be ready to cover me in case he begins to attack again."

"Alright," Naruto agreed and kept a peeled eye on their airborne enemy.

…

'_Hmm,'_ Deidara thought to himself, '_They're plotting something for sure, but with a few minutes of preparation, I'll have a plan ready for Kakashi...the jinchuuriki will be a problem though, I should try to regroup with one of the others...' _

…

Batman's mind slipped into Joker's trap as his body went limp and only stayed off its chest because Joker held it up with his good hand. Secluded and alone, no chance of interference, no stupid sidekicks to spoil his fun; he'd been waiting to do this for a long time.

…

True to his words, it seemed Batman had arrived in hell. Fires raged on all sides of him as he sank ever deeper into the Joker's genjutsu. He was standing on a catwalk, below him, pits of fiery inferno. Hot, possibly toxic gases filled the air around him and he was already coughing with agitation. The catwalk seemed to go on an infinite loop. Far in the distance, both in front of him and behind him, he saw a figure that appeared to be himself, making every action, however slight, that he was.

"Like looking in a twisted mirror, right?" Joker's voice rang through the dream-world.

With a flash of smoke and gas, the two figures that were supposedly himself to the front and back morphed into The Joker, the version that he had known so well back in Gotham. He was no longer in control of them or himself, and they walked forward in perfect sync and with giddy swagger while he couldn't move, no matter how hard he struggled.

"This is genjutsu, Joker, fake."

Batman was playing with a risky gambit, but his option was to buy time for himself. While part of him cringed to see Joker look slightly in awe and momentarily angry with the statement, another part of him was glad to know his idea was working.

"Fake, Shmake! Your ass is mine, Batman!" The two clowns replied as they chuckled and swung their right arms around in a circle a few times, as if preparing to fight.

He bit into his lip, well aware that drawing blood was a way of removing one's self from a genjutsu, but it was in vain. It seemed usual tactics had nary an effect on Gotham's worst nightmare, as usual.

"Oh no, don't try and leave so soon!" The Jokers cooed, "You seem awfully tense. I've got it! They say a nice, hot steam bath really does a number on the ol' stress levels. I'm a bit of an extremist, but let me know how this goes for ya, kay?"

The Jokers each grabbed an arm and flung Batman off the side of the catwalk and he fell into the lakes of raging fire below, screaming out, as it was the only thing he could do.

He felt his suit blacken and waste away in the scorching pits of flame. He heard every cackle as his skin burned and his hair was incinerated beneath the cowl. He yelled out with extreme pain, but all the while the lava filled his throat and burned him from the inside out as he sank into the destructive forces around him.

His feet were the first to go, followed shortly by his arms, then most of his head, and finally his chest sank as the suit was dissipated into ashes and nothingness by the flames until only the bat symbol remained unscathed, but even that lasted less than a second against Joker's wild inferno. Before he knew it, he was completely drowned in the fires and he felt as though he were dead. Part of him wished he was dead.

Then a blackness overcame the red and he couldn't feel anything or see or hear anything, and soon enough, he wondered if he was dead, or just in wait for another epidemic of Joker's twisted fun.

In any case, it was time to think, dwell on the severity of the situation and how to overcome it. He was immobilized, his mind was under siege from Joker's illusions, and he didn't know the status of his comrades.

Joker had a broken wrist, the upper hand, and a penchant for slaughter that didn't bode well for the Dark Knight. But the biggest issue was the genjutsu. It all tied into overcoming the illusions and pushing past the mental attacks. The problem lay in the adept nature of it.

Joker's genjutsu were top notch, roughly sharingan level. They couldn't be broken out of by normal means, and he theorized that time was distorted between the outside world and the illusion-world. That meant an ally was needed to pull him out, or he had to break his way out, if possible. One good token was that it actually was getting easier to think freely. He had no idea if he had a body anymore, in Joker's hellish world, but if he did, he might be able to begin using it.

"What are you," Joker asked suddenly,loudly, "trying to sell me short? I can see your thoughts, hear the grim voice in your stupid little pinhead. I'm a god here!"

He found his voice, and used it, though he suspected it was only because of The Joker's approval of such a thing, "Maybe, but when I break free-"

"You'll still be paralyzed! I win, Batsy! As always I am the superior! But don't fret, I won't kill you yet; too much fun to be had."

"..."

"No witty comeback? Typical!" Joker chided, "Urgh, and just when you think you're all set to go another round, company rears its ugly head. Well, I don't want you studying me up too much anyways; time to get back to reality! Which way is that again…?"

Instantaneously, Batman found himself back on the river, Joker's good hand around Batman's throat. He felt the burning sensation in his body return, and it was amplified by Joker's mental attack; he had a few theories as to the sources of Joker's uncanny powers, but that would have to come later.

"Joker!" Deidara called out from above.

Several shuriken shot down like bullets at the clown, who let his nemesis go and hopped up along the wall onto the rock ledge above, where Deidara's clay bird was waiting.

"Heh," the blonde Akatsuki mocked, "what is it with these people and going for the arms anyways?"

"Easier to hold you down," Joker answered informatively, "easier to have your way with your opponent. I prefer a good cheap shot to the eye or the crotch myself, but hey, to each their own!"

"You don't seem too upset about it," Deidara replied.

"You should see the other guy," Joker said and pointed down to where Naruto had picked up Batman and was about to haul him off to the opposite ledge where Kakashi sat, staring with one eye open at the Akatsuki members.

Deidara smiled in reply.

"Hey," Naruto asked as Batman struggled to awaken both body and mind from Joker's attack, "what happened?"

"Joker...genjutsu...keep your guard up…"

"Naruto!" Kakashi notified his student as their enemies shifted.

Deidara jumped off the clay bird and it reverted to miniature size, fitting nicely in his palm. Joker's face went cross for a second as he realigned his bones with a grunt, which played out into the sounds of a clearing throat.

"You know we're at a huge disadvantage here, right?" Deidara asked discreetly.

"Speak for yourself," Joker told his fellow criminal with a wide grin.

"We have limited attack and defense power and we're outnumbered, I hope you have a plan," Deidara reiterated as they got close to the edge of the cliff.

"Oh, I do," Joker assured, and cracked his neck before inhaling deeply, "I'm gonna send them to hell."

Batman could do little more than grimace at the thought of Joker's plan. He wasn't close to recovering from the blow, and his allies were in serious danger, even if they did have the advantage on paper.


	5. Decisive Battle

**That's right! Close those jaws! This story is back; so, if you haven't guessed it, I'm pretty lazy, and combine that with the rough time I've been having at school, and you get...what happened. But, I haven't given up on this story, and I hope you haven't either. There's still lots more fun to be had *wink wink, nudge nudge**

**So, keeping in mind that I still don't own anything from or related to Naruto or Batman, and by extension DC Comics, I hope you enjoy the latest chapter of Batman: Shinobi Knight! (Oh, and don't forget to leave me a review, you know, let me know how I did this chapter, and wether or not I've still got it) **

* * *

"Kakashi sensei, how's that jutsu coming?" Naruto whispered as the Akatsuki duo opposite them schemed together.

From his couched position nearby, Kakashi eyed their foes and kept his silence. Batman, on his knees behind the two of them, was breathing in and out and regaining control of himself. Coming out of a genjutsu was never easy, especially not when it was as good as Kakashi suspected.

"Kakashi sensei?" Naruto repeated, more anxiously this time, as Deidara leaped into the air atop his clay bird.

Kakashi's words were accompanied by the sound of shadow clones popping into existence, as three copies of himself were formed in front of him, "Keep them off me a minute longer…"

Naruto added his own clones into the mix, and a score went up after Deidara while the last handful accompanied Naruto over towards the still form of The Joker. Kakashi's clones stayed in the manji formation before their creator, each one armed with a kunai.

The clones going after Joker formed up and two of them transformed into demon shuriken, and quickly grabbed by other clones, they were hurled at the calm clown. In the blink of an eye, Joker leaped forward and evaded the two shuriken, but left them a parting gift as two kunai flew behind him, and destroyed the transformed clones.

Two clones stuck by the original Naruto while two more assaulted Joker, each one dispatched in seconds. The most threatening thing about Batman's strange foe was his unbelievable speed; he wasn't very physically strong, and didn't look well versed in taijutsu, but that wasn't an advantage unless Naruto caught him first.

A bright blue orb had formed in Naruto's palm, and the two clones who had helped him forge the rasengan a moment before ran forward to cover him, but fell as easily as the others. His window was barely a second, if that, and if he missed, the clown would have an excellent chance to counter.

If left alone, Naruto might not be able to beat this enemy, but he wasn't alone. Kakashi was his best, possibly only, hope of success. Seconds passed with the weight of boulders, and as they did, Naruto's heart pounded harder and his adrenaline rush became more intense. Another moment of life or death. Another chance to show everyone what he could do, or another chance to get himself captured, and sealed. This time would not be like the first.

…

Deidara flung a barrage of clay animals down on the clones, and from the smoke of the explosive storm not many clones rose up. He had only a few more clay explosives in his hand; Sasori was right, he should have brought more clay. Now wasn't the time, though.

A clone came at him from behind, and Deidara barely managed to duck the clone's kick and return the favor, blowing up the clone in a cloud of smoke. The bird swooped up to avoid another close encounter, and most of the clones relented their assault, and threw shuriken or kunai instead.

The bird was able to absorb or shrug off the ranged damage, but three clones stuck with him, all bearing the raging face of their Jinchuuriki owner. He threw one explosive at the clone coming for his rear side, and he exploded nicely. The second clone evaded the explosive hurled at him, and rejoined his brother in the attack.

Deidara knew there was only one option, and it sucked to do it, but it might be prudent to regroup anyways; he jumped off the bird, and while the clones jumped off as well, he blew it up. Two more clouds of smoke erupted and he used the last clay animal he had to create a second bird. He resumed his flight and headed upwards again, reaching into his back in the hope that he could muster up another handful of detonating clay. It wasn't a very fertile effort.

The Jinchuuriki's clones were not willing to move any farther upwards, and that put Deidara in the hot seat. It seemed Kakashi was almost ready to pull out whatever trick he'd been plotting, and a drop of sweat rolled down the criminal's face as the Leaf jonin removed his forehead protector from over his still shut right eye.

Desperate move? Yes it was, but he had a failsafe lined up just in case. Impressive, given the circumstances, but patting himself on the back could wait too. He separated the last of his clay, inserted half of it into his bird, and let the rest fall back into the bag at his side.

The bird he was on was bolstered, and expanded at an obese rate. A little clay went a long way, if he needed it to. He ceased all upward motion and rocketed down as fast as it would fly amidst change. The clones rallied to stop him, but he jumped off the bird and attacked the nearest clone, destroying it and grabbing the two kunai it was holding with his mouth.

He took one and flung it as best he could at another clone and watched it explode as the last stand of clones tried to stop the clay bird, now several times the size it had been. Deidara grabbed the other stolen kunai from his mouth and dashed down towards the Leaf Jonin.

The clay bird was lit up and the chakra it was emitting was blowing through the clones, and it could not be stopped as it neared Kakashi. Deidara kept a safe distance and timed his attack for exactly after the bird completed its suicide run, but Kakashi's clones were already engaging him. It took a moment for him to realize that only two were coming after him, however, and he felt a tinge of worry come over him as he saw his magnificent bird implode upon itself and fall into pieces as the third of the Copy Ninja's clones bisected it with a powerful lightning blade. Put on the retreat, Deidara evaded as best he could and worked his way over to The Joker.

The real Kakashi stood up and alternated his eyes, closing his normal eye and focusing on his enemy with his Mangekyo Sharingan.

…

"Rasengan!"

Naruto dashed into the clown and rammed the blue energy orb into his chest like a lightning bolt. Joker skidded to a halt and bought himself just enough time for a stone pillar to rise from the earth and absorb the blow, obliterating it, but protecting its summoner. Joker flickered right into his prey's face and kneed him in the gut with enough force to make Naruto stumble back.

He fought through the pain and leaped backwards as soon as he stopped himself. Joker was faster, though, and struck Naruto upside the head with his good fist as soon as the boy landed. Again leaping away, Naruto flipped backwards, towards the river, but he hardly got anywhere before Joker wounded him across the back with a thick laceration.

This time, a wooden stump took the damage and split into two as it fell, shocking Joker as he spun around to find the boy.

"Bastard!" Immediately, Naruto and a clone tackled The Joker, and rammed him into the ground while shoving a kunai up his back. A paper tag fell to the ground and burned red, alerting Naruto with enough time to jump away.

The Joker turned out to be a substitution as well, but the tag did not go off, and instead, simmered back to its original color and shade. A fake. Naruto wasn't about to waste a chance, and he summoned a group of clones to surround him.

"You look like you had a bad day once…" The Joker said from wherever he hid, casting his voice all around Naruto.

"Show yourself coward!" Naruto shouted back.

"It's perfectly fine to admit, you know. I had a bad day myself once…"

"You're gonna have a worse one when I find you! Come out and fight me!"

"Why? So you're master can use whatever jutsu on me that he's going to kill my partner with? Laughable...I hate that. Don't you understand that I'm the one who makes people laugh?"

"I don't know much about you, but if you're wearing that cloak, then I'm gonna stop you. That's all there is to it."

"Now isn't that trite of you? You said it yourself, you don't really know me. Yet you seek to kill me? I'm sure I could put a nice big grin on your ugly mug, if you say please."

"Cut it chuckles; come out and take your beating like a real man."

"Too much practice being a little girl."

"Tsk."

"Can't argue with that one, huh?"

"Just shut up and get on with it!"

"Someone needs a hug...not my style though. _This_ is more my speed!"

His clones all disappeared and Naruto fell to his back as an overbearing force tackled his mind and shut down his senses. He struggled as best he could, but there was no escape.

Naruto awoke with cluttered vision, and his head was spinning fiercely. After a moment of recovery, he noticed he was bound and tied up over a pool of water. It looked like he was in a sewer somewhere. In fact, he noticed that he knew this place well. He looked behind him, and behind the solemn steel bars a giant face, enamored with destruction and hatred, stared back at him.

"What is this?" The Nine Tailed Fox inquired as he peered down as Naruto, firmly attached to the gate that locked him up.

"Nine Tails! Can you help!"

"Help? With what?"

"And what _are_ you…" A voice like black thunder echoed through the mental plane, reverberating off the walls and making their entire existence more empty.

"Who said that!?" The beast demanded.

"He put me in a genjutsu! Can you help me! I can't beat him on my own!"

The Fox remained silent, but peered down at the helpless host with animosity, both because of their relationship and because he had now been involved with the boy's affair. He sniffed around his cell and the surrounding area many times, his large eyes cutting through the darkness.

"Very interesting...Fur's not a fashion trend I usually go for, but I can make an exception."

Kurama growled and he slammed his paws against the sealed gate, shaking Naruto violently, "Who dares mock me!? Reveal yourself, fool!"

"Just give me whatever power you can, hurry!" Naruto insisted.

"What are you doing?" The fox demanded, more furious than before, "stop this at once! I'll devour you for this!"

"Nine tails! What's going on?"

The Fox howled and a wind stronger than any jutsu could muster, and tore up the area, even marring the cage that bound him, but not enough to free him. Still, Naruto felt the binds go loose, but he also feared that the sealing tag was weakening, and he noticed with alarm that it was.

"Nine Tails! Nine Tails!"

Naruto practically shot up into the air as he found himself back into the real world. His lip was stinging, and a small trail of blood was leaking out of his mouth. Above him, Batman was on guard.

"I warned you...he's using sound to cast genjutsu."

It seemed he had regained his bearings, but Naruto also noticed that he looked mentally worn. He couldn't deny that he did too. A few spots of blood on his gloved fist let Naruto know how the illusion was broken.

"Joker! Round two!"

"That's what I love about you, Bats, no matter how hard I beat you, you always come running back to me! (Though I guess the same is true of me…)"

"Your charade is getting old. Speed blitzing, followed by a little hand to hand, then a genjutsu to cut off the action. A tactic that's suited to maximize your effectivity in combat. I'm not impressed."

Silence. He was preparing to make a move. Batman's eyes darted all around, and Naruto followed his example, hoping to catch sight of the clown before he attacked, however unlikely that was. Naruto recreated the clones and had them spread out across the surrounding area. Still no sign of The Joker.

"Hey!" Deidara shouted out as he leaped his way towards their battle, "Joker! Plan B!"

"Right in front of you!" Joker screamed suddenly.

"Argh!" Batman blurted out as a blade went in and out of the back of his shoulder; he reached back and grabbed the Joker by his good arm, and threw him towards Naruto, who followed up with a solid kick to the face.

Before he reached over to cover the stab wound, Batman threw a personal pair of bolas at the Joker, and bound him firmly. With his arms neutralized, and a stunning poison lathered on the trapping tool, The Joker fell to his butt and chuckled at the turn of events. Deidara landed beside him a second later.

"This is bad, my man…"

Kakashi's clones, each one with a chirping lightning blade, followed him over, and they surrounded the two criminals in a triangle, while Batman and Naruto stayed close as well. As the criminals surveyed their situation, the real Kakashi joined them as well.

"It's over," Kakashi told them, "surrender, and we won't have to kill you."

"At least not both of you…" Naruto muttered angrily, clenching his teeth together.

"You do have a plan B, don't you?" The blonde criminal asked anxiously.

"It's more fun to wing it," The Joker replied, still chuckling.

"Damnit!" Deidara cursed under his breath.

"Enough! Surrender yourselves!" Kakashi ordered.

"It's been fun," Joker told the Leaf ninja, and looked longingly at Batman.

"I said _enough!_" Kakashi repeated, a swirling distortion forming around the criminals.

"But we'll be leaving now; don't go and die without us!" An explosion of purple gas erupted from the side of them. They were gone almost instantly, probably due to a reverse summoning effect. Batman realized the tag Joker placed earlier wasn't a fake, but an action- delay tag. Another gag Joker used to escape. He scolded himself mentally as he checked on Kakashi.

"Aaargh! Bastard!"

The criminals had gone, but Batman didn't miss Deidara's other arm land limply on the ground, bleeding out as the mouth on the palm panted in agony.

"Well...that's unfortunate…" Kakashi lamented as he picked himself up and covered his eye again.

"Quite the jutsu, if I had thought things through a little more we would've won...I will do better the next time."

"There was a fifty-fifty chance of catching them, I blew it, not you," Kakashi confided, "Naruto? Naruto, are you okay?"

They looked over to where the gas was being blown away by the wind, and there was Naruto on his hands and knees as a thick red chakra surrounded him. Kakashi's eye went wide and Batman got into a defensive stance.

"Naruto, what happened?" Kakashi asked, as the boy roared and clenched his head; his teeth sharpened like fangs and his nails grew until they dug into his blonde hair.

"This must've been Joker's doing as well," Batman theorized, "He probably did something to him for the few seconds he caught Naruto in the genjutsu. I don't have a clue as to how he could affect a biju, but if it wasn't Joker, then something is really amiss."

"Agreed," Kakashi admitted as his clones went to subdue his student, each one getting blown away by the Nine Tailed Fox's power, "This foe of yours is impressive. I can't imagine the things he could do as part of the Akatsuki."

"Which means we'll have to stop him as soon as possible."

"Exactly."

"Rrrraaaargh!" Naruto cried out, now fully engulfed in red chakra, complete with a lone, red tail that swung slowly behind his crouching body.

"First thing's first though..." Kakashi said he prepared himself for the imminent attack.

…

"Son a _bitch!_" Deidara panted as he crouched down, biting down on his lip and squirming as the blood dripped from his shoulder.

"You know, if we all lost an arm or two, we could dig a hole and make a pretty nice arm-pit. And besides, free lunch. Grab and go...or maybe not," Joker giggled at his wordplay and stumbled along, much to Deidra's annoyance.

"Can it, or I'll kick your ass myself!"

"What else are you gonna do? Blow me up?"

His blonde comrade began to growl and stood up hotly, getting very close to Joker's face, looking down at the bound, and still very much broken, arm of the clown, hanging limply in its sleeve.

"Yeah, let's take away that arm of yours and see how you like it!"

"Hope you have educated feet, God knows you ain't gonna tear it off!"

"Up yours!" Deidara yelled and kicked upwards at Joker's face, but the clown dodged and jumped back. His grin was no less ecstatic as it was earlier, despite his injuries. With his arms, good and bad, both being bound to his sides, however, it looked to be a fair enough fight.

Deidara charged at him several more times, but they were merely dancing around, with one fruitlessly attacking and the other gladly evading and laughing. With each passing second, Deidara was growing angrier, and continued his tirade of verbal assaults.

"You bastard! Come here! Come here! I'll kick your ass up to the moon, then blow it up through the moon when you fall back down! You're dead, Joker!"

In the blink of an eye though, Deidara's expression changed from intense rage to dumbfounded agony. He thrust his leg forward and upwards, in an attempted kick to the chest, but The Joker was far faster.

Instead of jumping back or to the side in the pattern he'd been weaving, this time, the clown sidestepped and kneed Deidara in the groin, all in about one second. Deidara could not form words, but stared at the still grinning Joker, who now seemed to be far past elated. Deidara tripped backwards and landed on his knees, squirming in pain.

"I've got to hand it to you, that was a nice little fight."

Deidara didn't speak them, but the idea that the Joker could go and screw himself was felt loud and clear by the way the blonde criminal glowered.

"Oi! Joker, Deidara, what's happening?" The airy voice of the white Zetsu asked, popping up out of the ground beside them both.

"We want to play a hand of gin rummy, but...well, you can see the problem in that," Joker answered.

A new voice, squeaky and cheeky, and far past airy, came like a snake from the trees behind them all, "Cards? Oh, oh! Who wants to play old maid?"

"Who's the new guy?" Deidara asked weakly, still on his knees and hunched over.

"This is Tobi; it seems in the aftermath of his battle, Sasori was defeated, and now his place will be taken," The deeper voiced black Zetsu announced.

"What?" Deidara coughed from the ground, "Sasori's dead? Those jerks are really good then, huh? ...Bastards…"

"They're better than we anticipated," White Zetsu replied.

"Nice of you to help by the way," Deidara glared.

"It's not like we'd've made a difference," Black Zetsu defended.

"I don't know," Joker interrupted, "I think I could've used a spare head back there. God knows they went for mine like a dog to a bone, and what a gag we could've pulled. It's not as if you don't have an extra head for just such an opportunity."

"We share a body," Black Zetsu corrected.

"Unfortunately…" His counterpart added.

"Should we give you a moment?" Deidara asked, regaining his sense of balance and sarcasm at the same time.

"Oh my, I think this has been a terribly stressful day for us all!" Tobi worried, "It sounds like a good time to take a break! ...Anyone up for Old Maid?"

"Hey, new guy...stand there and shut up," Deidara ordered as he stood up again.

Tobi placed his hands over his bright orange mask and mimed closing a zipper over his mouth. He then pretended to lock it with a key, then threw the imaginary key far behind him. Finally, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs up and waited for the others to go on.

"Well, no sense in standing around here all day…" Black Zetsu said.

"Agreed, let's get back to the good old funny farm! Anyone want to give the blonde-bimbo a hand?"

"Will you cut it out, Joker!" The armless man spat.

"I'll have to clean my blade, unless you like it dirty."

"What a pair...good thing we work with ourselves…" White Zetsu told his brother.

"So what was with that insult?" Black Zetsu whispered back, and the two fell into their own conversation as they descended into the ground once again, leaving the other three to walk.

"We should really make some pancakes too," Joker noted.

"Oh boy! Pancakes! ...and then Old Maid?"

"Tobi!" Deidara scolded again.


	6. New Leads

**Welcome back to Shinobi Knight. I've been thinking of adding a picture that isn't my profile shot but I'm pretty lazy and I don't have my flashdrive in the laptop at the moment. Ah well, I don't think it bugs anyone that much, right? Well, this one is big and important, and it is here that I would like to remind everyone that this fic won't follow the story to a tee, and I've completely switched two characters around for the upcoming arc to focus on Batman's story...I mean, that is why we're here after all. **

**I still don't own anything, and I'm as of press time, a jobless shmoe without future plans except "get a job" and maybe start some higher education. sigh...reviews are nice. **

* * *

Naruto's strike, cloaked in red chakra, downed a tree, but Kakashi evaded it cleanly. In counterattack, he threw down several smoke pellets, moving through the curtain with Batman, but both were knocked away as soon as they entered striking distance; Naruto's howl alone blew most of the smoke away, and drove the men to get back on their feet immediately.

"We have to be rough on him!" Batman shouted while Naruto poised to strike at him.

"Agreed!" Kakashi responded as he slipped a sealing tag out of his flak jacket.

The forming blue orb melded with the Nine tails chakra, and a purple sphere of chaotic destruction formed in Naruto's hand, blistering and bruising it even as he held it. Behind the cowl, Batman's eyes glared and the white slivers on his mask shone with the will to win.

Naruto's leap was almost faster than Batman's vision, but guided by instinct, he rushed forward, his hands moving blurs as he formed seals. War cries clashes, nature itself bent to the emanating power of the jinchuuriki and his shinobi ally. The rasengan imbued with Biju power ripped through Batman's abdomen as the man in the mask desperately tried to hold Naruto's arm in his hands, but could not.

Naruto's face was lost in the rage and overwhelming power of the Nine Tails, and his expression was a blank canvas. He did not comprehend the cry of pain, the burst of power flowing from his hand, or the deception behind any of it. He did not react when the real Batman sprung up from behind his water clone, even as it imploded upon itself and liquified in an instant.

Like a shadow Batman came from behind the water clone, and with the final hand sign, he erected a water prison around Naruto, who was just reacting to the change of battle when Kakashi ran forward, hand lit ablaze with the power of the lightning blade.

Though designed to completely immobilize and suffocate, the water prison jutsu was not so effective on a jinchuuriki with blind rage and tremendous power, and it did little to stop Naruto's retaliation. Muffled by the water, his anger was still felt ringing through Batman's very being as a clawed hand swung out of the prison at his face.

He put his gauntlet up in time and caught Naruto's strike, but the claws kept digging, and he was soon bleeding, and struggling to keep Naruto in the prison. He hardly saw the second claw coming, and bent down to avoid getting caught in the face, though his back and shoulder were not protected from the furious slash. Naruto himself was almost out, and when both biju power and adrenaline were fueling him, he became more than a handful.

In a last ditch effort to ensure the combination jutsu success, Batman kicked Naruto towards the center of the prison, taking a bite to the foot for his trouble as well as what we knew was coming.

"Do it!" He shouted.

Kakashi nodded and ran the lightning blade right into the prison, electrocuting Naruto into a daze and making Batman's leg go numb. At once, the Caped Crusader dropped the prison and Kakashi slapped the tag on Naruto's forehead. The blonde shinobi dashed away, but the tag was already draining him of the blood-lusting power, and he weakly tried to get further away from his attackers, only to collapse after a few desperate steps.

The Joker's last gag of the battle did not last long, but it may have created more havoc than he did by himself. In any case, Naruto was disabled and barely conscious after having the Nine Tails locked firmly away once again. Kakashi stopped to check on Batman, but he shook his head and pointed to Naruto, and so the master flickered over to his student and and pulled him up, into a sitting position. The boy looked as if he'd been through a 10 hour training session-with Guy.

"Thanks for making the sacrifice there; we saved time and maybe even lives," Kakashi told his partner.

"Kakashi sensei! Naruto!" Sakura called out as she came dashing at them with Team Guy.

"Sakura…" Naruto mumbled in his fatigue. Underneath his mask, Kakashi couldn't help but smile. Team 7's first mission in years, and they all seemed to come out okay, despite the dangers.

"We defeated Sasori!" Lee informed them triumphantly, earning another wide smile from his master.

"But Lady Chiyo...she's not doing very well," Sakura added with regret.

"What happened here?" Neji asked, surveying the damage as well as Batman's crouched over form, holding his shoulder and gazing at the hole in his boot.

"We met several complications; The two we fought escaped, with injury. Unfortunately, we didn't fare much better, especially after…"

Sakura understood what was not said, and bent down to check on Naruto. She took a moment to heal him, but didn't do much other than that. Batman, meanwhile, listened to the reunion as he stood back up and hobbled over.

"Looks like we did as well as we could, with the power of Youth!" Guy announced proudly.

Batman looked like the Reaper himself in comparison to Guy's joy, "But the Akatsuki, including The Joker, got away, and they won't be rejoicing in their victory. Gaara is dead, and though we took their partner, they learned that with careful planning, they could defeat us all without much trouble. The Joker especially worries me, considering he has the prowess to defeat an opponent and kill them with genjutsu, based on sound no less."

"Well...that's a setback, I suppose," Guy admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

"We do have to advance carefully, but we can defeat them," Kakashi told them as Naruto finally came around.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The Akatsuki had gathered once again, now having obtained 3 of the 9 Biju required for their master plan. Pain seemed pleased, but Deidara was furious, and Tobi was oblivious. Their holograms appeared in cavern, and a rushing waterfall could be heard in the distance. Darkness was the most significant theme of the setting, however, and unusual eyes like those of Itachi and Pain shone like lanterns.

"For those of you who have not met Tobi, he will be replacing Sasori," The leader announced.

"Pleased to be on the team!" The rookie criminal squeaked.

"So he did bite the dust then...heh," Hidan remarked with a smirk.

"It is no light matter," Pain replied scoldingly, "we face many enemies in our plan to control the Tailed Beasts, but none have presented so much of a challenge as to kill one of our own. The Lead Village is strong, and we must be wary from now on."

"I'd like another shot at that Nine Tails brat!" Deidara hissed.

"You've captured the One Tail, your quota is met. But with you and Itachi both having failed to capture him, it seems I'll have to throw another one of you at him…"

"Perhaps we ought to take this one ourselves?" Konan suggested, a rare occurrence to have her speak at an Akatsuki meeting.

Pain did not give answer, but closed his eyes in deeper thought. The others kept their silence until he opened them again, making his declaration.

"The Kyuubi is a particularly challenging foe. We have many suitable candidates, but I think it might be time for our best team to track him down."

"We're still busy," the senior member of the aforementioned best duo remarked, "and it'll take us a while."

"Finish your business first, and then strike fast and hard. Everyone else has their own assignments."

With that Pain's hologram disappeared, as did several others until only Deidara and Tobi, and the figments of Kisame and Itachi were left.

"Hey, Itachi...that Nine Tails brat….Joker took him out with Genjutsu. What happened a couple years back with you two? Why didn't your genjutsu work?"

"...We ran into complications, in the form of a Sannin," Itachi dismissed, leaving immediately thereafter.

"Oh man, that kid from the Leaf Village looks like real trouble….what if we run into him Deidara senpai!?" Tobi questioned, looking around nervously, as if Naruto could attack at any moment.

"He's nothing, we can take him down easy," Deidara answered with annoyance.

Kisame laughed heartily before he too disappeared, leaving Deidara and Tobi alone to start the path of their next mission.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Lady Tsunade walked through the hospital with Sakura and Lee, a clipboard in her hand and a smile on her face. All things considered, the mission hadn't gone half bad. Though Lady Chiyo of the Sand had perished, she bequeathed an amazing jutsu to the Hokage, a jutsu which could revive the dead, at the cost of the user's life. Tsunade had to admit that particular jutsu was a genius creation. If used right, there might not be any jutsu as useful.

But having saved Gaara, now regrettably without a Tailed Beast however, her shinobi made it home, and none of them were in great shape. Batman's foe in particular cast a nasty genjutsu, which was affecting Team Guy even now.

She opened the door and found Kakashi, Guy, Tenten, Neji, and Batman all in beds, with a sixth one being vacant. Lee immediately went to greet his master and partners, but Sakura stayed at the Hokage's side as she checked on Kakashi.

"If I'd known the Mangekyo Sharingan was going to be so much trouble, I would've practiced with it more...might've saved me from some bedrest," The silver haired Jonin admitted sheepishly.

"Make that a week's worth of bedrest. Sharingan come at a steep cost, it seems," Tsunade corrected.

"Yes Ma'am," Kakashi relented.

"Did Naruto head home when I released him?" The Hokage inquired of her subordinate.

"He did, I think he's still sleeping now, actually...then again, who can tell with Naruto?" Sakura answered.

"Well, you're holding out okay, it's just a matter of time to wait until you recover," Tsunade told Kakashi, moving on to Guy afterwards, "You however, aren't so lucky. None of you are."

"I'm still feeling terrible," Tenten commented, holding her head.

"Yes, it seems the Joker's tricks have side effects. As far as I can tell, his genjutsu might just surpass an Uchiha level genjutsu on the basis of damage done to the victim. Frankly, you might have all been luckier if it'd been Itachi."

"What's happening to us?" Guy inquired, "I felt pretty good when Sakura roused me, but as soon as we got back to the village I felt weak again."

"Exactly, the Joker's illusions are unlike any I've seen before. While a genjutsu cast by, say Kakashi or Itachi, will be meant to torture your spirit, mind, and body, and will come out with such devastating power up front, The Joker's genjutsu works a bit differently. His genjutsu hits hard, but in a more subtle way; your physical bodies didn't feel much pain, and they aren't feeling so bad now, but they were threatening to shut down when it was first cast on you.

The lasting effects, as far as I can tell, will wear off eventually, like the initial attack, but the trauma you received that's causing this 'relapse' is troubling, and I don't think you'll be able to avoid it if you're caught in his illusions. He's definitely a tricky opponent."

"How soon do you think it will be before these side effects remedy themselves?" Neji asked, looking the most comfortable of the three members of Team Guy, but obviously still troubled.

"I can't say, but in all probability, you'll be out before Kakashi."

"Aha! Once again I have an opportunity to best my rival!" Guy cheered, then laid his head down in immediate and queasy regret.

Tsunade turned to find Batman was already standing, but leaning against the wall for support. Sakura and her teacher rushed quickly to lay him back down, but he refused.

"I have to work through this. I've always managed to overcome the psychological warfare Joker throws at me, this time won't be any different."

"It's alright to rest," Tsunade insisted.

"No...I can't afford to rest. Shiawasena and his organization are still the top priority of the ANBU, and I'm the one working that case. There's no time to waste, not after this last mission."

"Tanoshi is nowhere near the threat level of the Akatsuki!" Sakura objected.

"That's rash and untrue, and you know it. We don't know anything about Tanoshi or the man running it. It might end up that Shiawasena is the man controlling the Akatsuki, which is a front for Tanoshi itself," Batman scolded, almost lowering to his knees.

"Lady Tsunade, we can't let him go!" Sakura implored.

But the Hokage's eyes were narrowed, and as she looked into the eyes of Batman's cowl, she made her decision. She scribbled something on the clipboard and addressed the Caped Crusader again.

"You could be right. Tanoshi doesn't present as big a threat as the Akatsuki on paper, but they could be connected for all we know. As it happens, Sakura has brought an upcoming mission to my attention that might just involve the Akatsuki. I want you to work the Tanoshi end, and if they are related in any way, I want to know ASAP."

"Then I'll get right on it," Batman said, attempting to walk away, but forcibly pushed into bed by Tsunade.

"No, for now, rest. You're free to leave when you can stand on your own two feet without a struggle."

"...Fine."

"Oh, one more thing, Tsunade added, turning back to face the wounded hero, "since the two organizations might have ties to one another, it would be foolish to let you go alone. I'm calling in a specialist to tag along with you. Don't worry, he's no rookie, he'll be able to take care of himself. Report to my office when you're ready to leave."

Before a reply or complaint could be given, the Hokage made her exit.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"What leads do we have?" The ANBU specialist asked the Hokage as she took a drink and continued to sign the many papers on her desk.

"I don't know more than was in the report he gave, you'll have to ask him," She replied.

"He doesn't share his intel with you?!"

"Yamato...surely you don't doubt him? Or me?"

"Of course not, but...it's a little shocking."

"He's a bit unorthodox, I admit it. But he's a fine ninja, better than a lot of our own. You shouldn't have any problems working with him."

"Well, I have to admit I'm more worried about working against him."

Tsunade grimaced at the implications in that statement, and the room bore the silence of a tomb as they each waited for the other to say something. Dark clouds began to drift in front of the full moon. The air grew heavy as both shinobi sensed the office and surroundings to ensure that the man they were discussing was not there to hear them.

"Tall accusations, and frankly, I don't like them at all," The Hokage warned.

"My apologies Lady Tsunade, but you have to admit, he isn't the most trustworthy teammate."

"I trust him, I trusted him with the safety of Teams 7 and 8, and furthermore, both Lord Jiraiya and myself have met with him many times."

"Perhaps he's a double agent, perhaps he's a double agent who doesn't know his true purpose. When we found him, he showed no ability to manipulate chakra. It doesn't exactly add up that he'd swear allegiance to us and become a powerhouse shinobi who serves us without question."

"He has his reasons for calling himself a Leaf shinobi, but I decline to inform you of them."

"Even so, having the background and experiences I do, I cannot yet bring myself to trust him fully. I will send you my reports as the mission progresses and as I interact with him thereafter."

Tsunade's sigh preceded her final order, "Very well, but you'll be pulling double duty. Given Naruto's adverse reaction on the last mission and the Nine Tails' chakra that escaped, I want you as a Wood style user ready to help him if need be. Expect to work with him in the near future...a lot."

"Yes Ma'am."

"He's coming…" Tsunade whispered after a brief pause.

"I know."

Batman entered through the door seconds later, looking at Tsunade and his new partner with suspicion. Yamato's face was hidden behind a porcelain ANBU mask, but it did little to shield himself from the white eyes of Batman's cowl. Tsunade was far less affected.

"Nice to finally meet you," The ANBU greeted, holding out his hand.

"Read this," Batman replied, placing a scroll in the open palm and subsequently stepping before the Hokage and handing her a smaller scroll, "Jiraiya asked me to send this your way."

"How are you feeling?" She inquired, setting the message aside.

"I'll make it."

"Of course, you're too stubborn to die after all."

"Too much depends on me not dying."

"By the way, that package you got off the Tanoshi thug? We got it open."

"And?"

"It promptly exploded. We ended up with nothing."

"That's not what I like to hear."

"All the more reason for me to wish you both good luck. The sooner you leave the better."

"I'm ready," Yamato said as he put the scroll away in his tool pouch.

"Then follow me," Batman ordered as he flickered out of the room.

A slight pause came before Yamato followed, giving himself enough time to look Tsunade in the eye. They nodded to one another, and he was off. Tsunade rubbed her temple as she opened the scroll from her close friend. It was just a matter of time before she was updated with the duo's mission.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The moon was in full view by the time the two Black Ops agents reached the precipice of the forest. Fields of tall grass abounded far into the horizon, still and calm. Having spent all of the previous night in ascertaining this location from a lower end contact, the pair of Leaf shinobi waited in the shadows of the trees, looking for the opening they were hoping for.

He'd done it many times before since his arrival, but waiting on a stakeout with someone else was still odd to the Dark Knight. Even in the ANBU teamwork was necessary some of the time, but he hadn't grown very close to many of his fellow agents, much less a specialist he hadn't heard of before a few days ago.

There weren't many with that kind of presence, but of course the irony was that he and Batman were two of the same kind. Both had no files in the Leaf records and neither was mentioned at all in the ANBU files, unless of course one had the highest of clearances. Usually that indicated an agent had very important talents or information, or was part of Root. Batman speculated the later of the man, and put himself in cautious positions at all times. He'd never met Danzo, but he knew enough. Hopefully, he and his secret society wouldn't stick its collective nose into his business.

"There," Yamato whispered to the man sitting beside him in the tree, disturbing him from his thoughts.

A hole opened up in the grass field, and for a split second the moonlight shimmered across many trip wires laid out in a labyrinth around the trap door. It was probable that the trap door itself was booby trapped, but now that they knew how to get in, the rest would fall into place when the time came.

A man emerged, bearing a bag of unknown contents. His face bore many tattoos, and he seemed more of a thug than a ninja, but the shuriken holster at his side spoke differently. He was followed by two more men, one bald and the other with half a head of hair, being shaved cleanly on his left side, but flowing with blonde hair on his right.

"We should split up and take out both of them," Batman whispered back.

"What do you mean 'both'? There're three out there, unless I'm missing something."

"The bald one is a decoy."

"How can you tell?"

"I've been studying up on what we know. Shiawasena is a tough foe, he's always careful to have false loose ends sticking out...to cover the ends he doesn't want us to find."

"If you say so."

"You take the one heading South...I think I know where the other one is headed."

"Very well."

Batman was the first to leave and shadow the tattooed man, while Yamato watched him from afar, slowly studying up on Batman all the while keeping his eye on Shiawasena's agents. Despite what Batman said, Yamato intended to check out the third character, glean what could be known from him. Even decoys had use, and why Batman was trying to draw his attention away from the third Yamato could only speculate at this point.

The bald man and his half-shaven partner headed South, with the bald man veering Southeast not long after they got to the fork in the dirt path bordering the forest. The supposed decoy was hugging the treelines as he walked along calmly, keeping his hand on something in his pocket. The blonde haired man meanwhile hugged the field, but a ravine wasn't far away, and it was there Yamato suspected he'd try and disappear.

With a few quick seals, Yamato produced a wood clone of himself and sent it after the decoy. He waited a little while longer, then dashed ahead and concealed himself behind a large rock beside the path. The target seemed to be clueless to his presence for the time being.

The chasm to the side of the target was pitch black, no way of telling what was behind those shadows without experiencing the descent. If the Tanoshi man made it over the edge, Yamato was going to have a hell of a time finding him, but that looked like the way the man was leaning. There was nothing but open path and more grass fields ahead. Yamato quickly formed the seals to use another jutsu, but the man was quick.

He lunged over the edge, threatening to drop into the black hole below him, but Yamato was a quick draw himself, and a wooden cage emerged from the side of the ravine and caught the Tanoshi agent mid-jump. He looked stunned, until he collapsed. Without a second wasted, a figure jumped from the grass, this one even faster and wielding a sword.

Yamato had just enough time to evade the worst of the blow as the false agent in the cage burst into smoke. A wooden stake began emerging from the ANBU's palm, but the criminal was once again in the middle of acting against him. Drawing his tanto with his free arm, Yamato blocked the sword strike and locked blades with the half shaven man, who was laughing at the situation.

"You knew!" Yamato muttered as they pressed their weight against each other.

"Of course! You thought you were going to get the drop on us, but our master is far more competent than that!"

The stake was ready, and Yamato launched it out of his palm, striking the criminal in the shoulder and throwing him almost into the tall grass field. The man yanked it out as blood spilled into the dirt. Unfortunately for the man, he wasn't as sharp as the mastermind pulling his strings, and before he could get rid of the wooden stake, Yamato formed another seal and it fractured into his hand, crippling it for the remainder of the battle.

The criminal was skilled enough, but Yamato was an ANBU, a good one, and he kept the pressure up. The Tanoshi agent got to his feet, only to be kicked back down and held in place by Yamato's blade.

"Give me all the information you have and you don't have to die," Yamato ordered.

"Search me…" The criminal offered with some pain.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

"Tell me what I want to know before my arm tires out," Batman threatened, standing on the pool of swamp water about a click away from the trap door. The tattooed criminal was being held by his foot over a pool several stories below.

"I have no fear for you in my heart, but Shiawasena has commanded me to feed you bits and crumbs."

"So let me have them; where does the tunnel under the trap door lead?"

"It is one of many he have come into possession of, and it leads exactly where you saw us emerge, the mountaintop. It also connects to a couple other tunnels through the land."

"How did Shiawasena get a hold of these tunnel systems?"

"We acquired them from Orochimaru."

"And how many are there, where do they all connect to?"

"I'm afraid I can't give you much more than what I already have."

"Fine, I'll beat the rest out of you."

"Do you know the significance of my tattoos?"

"Doesn't matter now," Batman retorted, throwing the man onto land. Despite being cuffed together with one of Batman's personal bindings and having a chakra tag placed on the back of his neck, the man showed no fear, true to his words.

"These are no mere markings to warn off would be attackers. They are gifts from my master."

"They won't save you," Batman told the man, driving a fist into his stomach that stopped the criminal from speaking for a full minute, all the while Batman went to work pummeling him down and breaking bits and pieces of his body where he pleased.

"They….are a divine….blessing…"

Batman picked the criminal up by the throat and held him close, "You're good, but I will break you."

"Nothing...can. Don't be fooled. I am not a mere pawn."

Batman's eyes opened a little wider when he realized that whatever he broke was soon mended, whatever he snapped, corrected, whatever he tore, sewn back together. Furthermore, in a nod that brought up dark flashbacks to a Venom pumped Bane, the man broke free of his binding and tore the chakra tag from his neck.

"Now that I know you can take it...I can go all out," Batman warned.

"I will be the one to break you."

They ran at each other, fists curled. The criminal swung first, but missed completely, opening himself up for three powerful shots, each one tearing apart his defenses, but not strong enough to hurt him before he put them up again. The fourth shot, however, was followed up by a low kick that flung the tattooed man into the swamp water and reverberated around the marshland.

The man jumped out the water and created a crater when he landed his foot down, but he missed his mark again. Batman flung a wire at the criminal's foot, and a string of lightning crashed on him like a wave, but he tore the wire apart like string.

Now on the defensive, Batman skirted backwards, leaping away to avoid devastating blow after devastating blow, barely avoiding a serious injury each time. But he was drawing the criminal to the water, and after a couple more missed hits, his plan activated.

A water clone lunged up and grabbed him by the throat as the original was overhead, the criminal took yet another missed swing, this time at the clone, and he was open to the kick from above. One after another, Batman and the water clone took their turns striking the man, running circles around him. Blood spilled quickly, but the man refused to go down.

Clapping his hands together, the criminal released a burst of chakra that destroyed the clone and sent the genuine Batman away. Seals were formed by both men, and jutsus collided.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

A ball of raging winds flew from the tattooed man like a thrusting punch from Superman, but Batman had a counter.

A Water Wall sprung up from the marsh and took the brunt of the explosion, but the area was ravaged beyond recognition. The shockwave effect of the wind jutsu tore up everything in the marsh, even the caster, who's muscles were showing underneath patches of shredded skin. Despite this, however, he did not so much as flinch.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Yamato gazed with ire at the criminal on the floor. Despite several searches, Yamato found no scroll, no box, nothing of significance on the agent, who laughed from under the many wooden layers binding him to the ground.

His clone had already beaten the bald agent and taken what little useful information he could in the form of a scroll, but this one was proving a much tougher case. And worst of all, he just kept laughing.

"I know you have something for me, how much are you going to endure before I force it out of you?" Yamato asked, a wooden stake poised to shoot out of his fingertip pointing down over the man's chest.

"You won't defile the name of my master. I won't let you learn the secrets he entrusted to me."

"Have it your way," Yamato replied, plunging the wooden spear into the criminal's chest. The man's laughter flowed with blood now.

"Futile...attempts!"

Another stab wound caused the man to writhe under the restraints. Yamato was a little glad he was opted for this route, but he also knew time was of the essence. He plunged a third stake into the man's shoulder, and this one came with a warning.

"This time, I'll have it implode inside you; the pain will be exponentially worse. Cough up what you can now, before it's too late. His threat was met with even more red laughter.

"You still don't realize it do you?"

Yamato gazed into the man's eyes, finally realizing what he was missing.

"You...you _are_ the package!"

"Good...but too slow. See you...in hell!"

The man attempted one more grand laugh, but he began to explode all at once; his final act of life was suicide.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

The tattooed criminal walked slowly over the broken ground and dissipating swamp waters to Batman's body, bleeding and broken as the criminal had promised. The ANBU agent attempted to stand, but he was forced deeper into the fractured world as his back was used to smash the stone under him.

"It seems my master underestimated you."

Batman attempted to speak, but had difficulty. The criminal was patient enough to let him get out a few words, however.

"Wrong...again…"

A smoke screen exploded with the clone like a nuclear bomb, flooding the area with a thick black curtain. The tattooed man rushed out of it to find a batarang lodged in his eye, and at last, he muttered something to himself in pain as Batman lodged it deeper into his ocular cavity.

The man reached out and grabbed Batman's hand, but Batman countered by placing another chakra tag on the criminal's hand, and without chakra to fuel his physical body, he suffered a quick and powerful takedown.

The batarang was pulled out and the man disregarded the dying eye, throwing it to the side as he covered up the gaping hole on his face.

"How did you escape my jutsu?….no one has hurt me so seriously since I was bestowed with my gift."

"If you're more than a pawn, you can figure that out for yourself. Regardless, I'm getting what I came for."

"I am not supposed to feel pain, and I should heal soon after every blow...but you...have pushed me past my limit. I will be stronger next time Batman."

The Dark Knight reached out, but a reverse summoning jutsu teleported the criminal away. He escaped this time, but now they both knew what to expect the next time they battled. And he was sure there would be a next time.

… … … … … … … … … … … … …

Back at the trap door in the tall grass, Yamato was waiting patiently, having already disposed of the trip wires.

"Did you get what we were after?" Batman asked as he flickered beside his partner.

"Not quite."

"These agents were tougher than the ones I've gotten my hands on before."

"Sly move back there...the water wall I mean."

"You watched me?"

"I was going to help, but that combination jutsu threw him off well. You used the water wall for cover, then used a reverse summoning jutsu to escape...just like he did to avoid capture at the end of the fight."

"Are you trying to prove something?"

"I wanted to know what summoning you're bound to. We can only work well together if we know our full extents after all."

"Not the way I work," Batman replied, jumping into the trap door and landing in a room of complete darkness. Yamato jumped in a second later and landed beside him, and they immediately put their backs together. Something was obviously wrong.

"I did pick something off the decoy that might be useful," Yamato informed, pulling out the scroll from the bald criminal's possessions.

"You did _what!?_"

The scroll opened up and at once the darkness faded as countless traps, all of them lethal, were revealed and activated while the trap door above them sealed shut.


	7. Infiltration

**WOW! It has been FIVE-EVER since I updated this story! Phew! I'm pretty ashamed, and the fault is 100% mine. Some days I deemed other stories more important, some days I deemed writing too difficult, and some days, I just plain forgot about it. My sincerest apologies to all the fans of this fic, I hope to keep up a far more regular schedule from now on...that said, I can't make promises. Life is demanding like that.**

**Anyways, I just saw that this story has been viewed over 7,000 times, and that is amazing. Simply amazing. THANK YOU to everyone who checked this out, and especially to those who made it this far and plan to go even farther with me. I may be slow about updating it, but I DO NOT PLAN ON STOPPING HALFWAY. I'm gonna make this story long and rich one of these days...just bare with me until then.**

**Reviews are always welcome; how was my revival chapter here? A bit short in my own opinion, but I have some good stuff planned. Help me get there faster by showing me your love and appreciation. I don't own jack squat except the OCs and the plot ideas.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Sir! We've got intruders!" The man at the monitor reported, typing away into the keypad and looking into different camera screens.

Text was displayed on a larger screen above the monitor to give answer.

_Prepare key personnel for evacuation. The time is not yet right to meet our guests. _

"Hold on...the traps have activated, I think we may have gotten them….readings are coming in-"

_No. They're cleverer than that. Send them a real welcome._

"Yes sir...Lord Shiawasena!

_In the meantime, order the squad tailing our secondary target to delay all action until I set myself up somewhere safer. If nothing else, try and keep the intruders from tailing me. If necessary, distract them with something shiny and lure them away from our nearby hideouts. _

"Yes sir," The subordinate replied, checking the screens again and observing the carnage.

The two elite invaders were mopping the floors, working well together, but displaying all their hidden and subtle faults for the cameras. The subordinate began recording, knowing that his master would very much like to review the data later.

"Our primary targets for the night have engaged our forces. They're already almost all defeated."

_As expected. Very good. Keep at it, and keep me updated on the Leaf intruders._

The screen displaying orders went dark, and the security room doors locked. The man on duty was not "key personnel", but he would sure look like it. He flipped two switches and spoke into the speaker.

"Door 4 has been compromised. All available agents should engage the intruders, lethal force is authorized!"

Thugs and goons of many shapes and sizes rushed to obey the orders. Tanoshi was not much of an elite organization, but it was very secretive of itself. Those that snooped too much were to be taken out without question, regardless of perceived threat. Two jonin level ninja weren't the usual targets, but like any others, they would simply have to be exterminated.

These ninja were very unique, the man noticed. The man of mystery, the elite hunter called Batman was skilled, precise, and a little unorthodox, everything his master had described and much more. It was almost enticing. The other ninja was a wood style user, it seemed, but little else could be determined about him. He was definitely in the same league as Batman, though, and they were working quite well in taking out every low life drone the man at the keyboard threw at them. It wasn't much of a battle, rather, quite the massacre.

And yet, something felt very, very off about the entire encounter. The man at the screens began scanning through the database as his cohorts were beaten into submission and unconsciousness. He muted the volume in response.

A smoke bomb exploded as two stragglers ran out to engage the intruders. Echoes of punches and snapping bones blew outwards and simmered into silence within seconds. From the shadows, whispers were traded like silent knives in the back.

"This is as close as we'll get to the root of the problem tonight," Batman commented, "they'll see through the deception soon. You go engage the clones, I'll find out what I can."

Yamato grimaced inwardly at the command.

"I know you started this mission, and this foe is yours to defeat, but the clones are more than capable of taking these thugs-"

"Exactly. You need to extend the illusion for as long as possible, keep them all occupied."

He sighed, and nodded, dashing into the hall and running towards the self-created chaos. Batman, meanwhile, retreated into the roofing, stalking quietly along the ventilation system.

The walls were lined with residue, evidently from some sort of gas, or several variations of a gas, that was transferred through the facility. Shiawasena was very precise and shrewd with his operations.

Several times Batman caught glimpses of schemes and evils that made his heart ache. The grunts who fought for Shiawasena were almost mindless in adoration and subservient manner. The things they did to prisoners, each other, themselves...it was a nightmare fit for the unholiest of places.

Priorities dictated that he look past these injustices. For now, anyways. He took down guards when he came across them, and took mental notes of anything that stood out, but time was of the essence, and he had a specific itinerary for his stay. First and foremost, if Shiawasena was present, it was finally time to confront him. With Yamato playing support, Batman was confident that the criminal could be caught.

Secondary objectives included taking a prisoner who knew enough to be worth the trouble of extracting, and investigating possible Akatsuki ties. The foes clad in black robes and red clouds were not foes to be brushed off. Perhaps a better idea of a connection between the two organizations would prove fruitful. If there was time or an opportunity presented itself, he would have to procure another package. He might even find out what was inside one if he could get a hold of it before it was sealed.

Before his thoughts could run anywhere else he noticed the quick and small gleaming of light from the halls below him illuminate a kunai. The blade shot through the vent like a missile, and Batman was only able to avoid injury by bringing up his gauntlet in time. The unmistakable click of another kunai knife being prepped to shoot at him made him evict the vents, and land in a small room filled abundantly with both candles and mirrors.

The kunai launched in the vent and clanged harmlessly against a corner. The room's shape was an octagon, with mirrors on seven of the eight walls, the last being occupied by an open door.

The thick odor reminded Batman heavily of sneaking into a drug cartel's production facility. Various types of chemicals stained the floor and the lone desk sat with several, mostly black substances waiting to be used. Candles also adorned the desk and floor, and wax buildup had cluttered the corners. It was almost like some kind of holding cell. A working cage.

He peered out the doorway. To the right, a staircase descended downwards, to the left, a larger door was sealing him in. Down he went, careful for other traps, though he speculated that this far into the facility they wouldn't be likely (in the main halls and more common rooms). The dark halls got darker as he gradually moved underground. Every so often he'd pass another small room with mirrors and candles. Was it some sort of ritualistic experiment? Or was it perhaps a remnant of Orochimaru's work in the cavernous lair? Soon enough all traces of metal and wood were gone, and the walls and floor were completely made of rock as the downwards slope leveled out. He was past the borders of the facility it seemed, and yet the path went on. Something was to be found.

Batman nearly missed the fork in the path, which blended well with the rock wall beside it, and followed it to a ledge overlooking an underground lake. A violent waterfall rumble filled the cavern with noise, and he suspected the main path would actually lead right into the river, discouraging anyone from finding the patch of land just above the ledge he was currently on.

He jumped up and nearly killed the petrified man who sat motionless in front of him with a powerful blow. It was then that he realized a great many men sat or stood with open eyes, outstretched arms, and many scars and burns and bruises on them. It was almost like being in a sadistic work of art, stuck in an eternal glimpse of pain. It took him a second to realize that the one thing that didn't look petrified were the many tattoos adorning their bodies. They looked very recently added, and Batman tensed up, catching wind of three chakras advancing from above.

He retreated into the darkest shadows and silenced his own chakra as best he could, waiting to strike. Three men dropped down, each of them looking as though they were in the same stone-like trance as the others around them; they also looked as though they had been fighting.

"We must protect this place from the intruders!"

Had Yamato's cover been blown? Batman hadn't expected to get caught into this enigmatic trail, and the ANBU partner he'd been assigned had almost slipped his mind. He hesitated to leave, and wondered how long he would have before being discovered.

His attention was grabbed when a wall of water shot up from the lake below, and riding atop it, a blue-skinned man in the same black cloak with red clouds that Batman had seen in his last mission. More noticeable, however, was the large, bandage-clad weapon in the Akatsuki's hand.

"Good luck with that…"

The three men jumped up to meet the monstrous Akatsuki criminal, and he cut them all down without much effort. Two had died immediately, the third would die soon, but the blue skinned swordsman was not content with that. Batman's face grimaced in the shadows as the bandages ripped apart and many dark spikes shot out the rapping. A strange buzzing sound, animalistic and hungry, rang through the cavern.

"I...will fight to the end….for Shia-"

The growling sword crushed the man's skull into jelly, and it did not escape Batman's notice that the fodder's chakra was stolen as well.

"These pesky weaklings….to think we'd be ordered to go after them…."

Batman realized it would not be long until he was discovered, unless this particular foe was especially careless, which he doubted highly. In fact, it seemed the sentience inside the sword had already found him out, for the monster once belonging to the Hidden Mist village stared right through the darkness and into Batman's eyes.

"Why hello there. Hope you offer more of a challenge than these pathetic excuses for warriors did."

Batman did not wait, but dashed in with a ready Bat-shuriken, which flew fast and far, but was blocked by the hilt of the sword, which Batman could've sworn grew just a little bit bigger to save its owner. It could hardly surprise him after seeing it communicate to the blue man.

Meanwhile, the Akatsuki swung the blade with admirable speed and strength, and Batman felt the sword clamoring for his vitality, though he was able to evade with difficulty. The monster repeated the tactic, several more times bringing the blade up and down, smashing in the floor and knocking over statues, but Batman was a little too acrobatic.

Still, getting in close was not a good idea against him. And range was a game Batman never preferred to play without heavy equipment, which was unavailable to him here. The swordsman laughed heartily.

"I don't think we've had the pleasure of meeting before," the man introduced in the moment of temporary calm, "I am Kisame Hoshigake, formerly of the Hidden Mist village, now of the Akatsuki."

"Do you know who I am?" Batman asked, half expecting the answer he got.

"Actually I do, and the rumors don't seem to lie. You will be fun to play with."

Yamato did not enjoy the farce of fighting his wood clones, one disguised as Batman, but even more so he hated the fact that when push came to shove, he was obeying his partner. There was no fault to be found in teamwork, but his partner was not of the Leaf village. Not by birth, and not by right at least. He did solid work, and had many strengths to admire, but at the heart of the matter, Yamato could not place his full trust in this man.

And yet, here he was, relying on the relative-strange to do the most important things, while he was dressed up like just another thug, dancing around with his doubles. As if to further humiliate himself, "Batman" delivered a kick he would not let himself avoid, and he flew into the wall with a loud thud.

It stung a little, but his clones knew their role. Convincing, but not forceful. The real Yamato pretended to be out of breath, slowly rising again as the other thugs rushed in. It was a good thing none of the tattooed shinobi were present, otherwise he'd have to blow his cover to keep up the charade.

"Are you alright?" A man he did not know in the slightest asked with concern as he bent down to pick Yamato up.

The ANBU fixed the mask over his face a bit as he replied, "Yeah...these guys are insanely strong...we getting back up?"

"I wish," the grunt replied, pulling a kunai from the holster on his leg, "I've gotten word from the security chief. We have _another _intruder, down below."

Did the real Batman get caught? But that seemed unlikely, unless he had managed to hide his true form.

"Down below? How'd this one get in?" Yamato played along.

"We have no idea. All we know is that hell itself is breaking loose and coming for us tonight. With any luck we'll be killed swiftly."

"Or not at all," Yamato added as he rushed back into the fight, eager to keep the clones from cleaning up too quickly.

Yamato sent an obvious swing of the sword in his hand against his own copy, which ducked and then popped up with a fist the original allowed himself to avoid, in exchange for knocking into one of his "comrades" and causing the batch of kunai in his hand to fly harmlessly into the wall.

Without an apology, the real Yamato jumped aside and continued the illusion, allowing himself to take a harmless hit here and there, all the while counting down the number of Tanoshi thugs left standing.

But in the end, there weren't very many of them left after all.

The fight kept him well occupied, but Batman's mind was still blazing through questions and theories. The Monster in the black cloak adorned with red clouds was the one thing he did not expect to find. At least he knew a little more, but the biggest questions remained unanswered.

What link existed between Tanoshi and the Akatsuki? Was he sent here to stop Batman, or did he have ulterior motives in line with his orders to engage these men? And why did he come here specifically? What was it about these statues that the fodder gave their lives for? One thing he knew without doubt was that everything around them seemed a shadow, like nothing true could be found within the rock walls. Any echoes were inherently false here.

Water collided with water, stone was cut and crushed and disintegrated, and blood was spilled. All the while the enemy smiled, like the shark he was. That only made the question burn deeper. Batman usually didn't have such problems separating the times for action and thought.

"I thought you'd be tougher," Kisame admitted as he jumped back, with several fewer wounds than Batman, though the swordsman did still take a hit or two.

"You were expecting me then?"

Sometimes the simplest approaches bore the best answers.

"No. But it was a pleasant surprise. That said, this is getting boring pretty quickly. You'd better have more up your sleeve, or this will be finished pretty quickly as well."

"You'll get all you imagined and more," Batman promised as he drew two more of his custom shuriken.

"I don't know...I can imagine quite a bit…."

Batman let them both fly, one being deflected into a statue, the other onto the ceiling. Kisame lunged forward at the same time Batman did, the caped man rolling aside as the giant sword swung down. He hit Kisame right under the kneecap, with the strength to permanently cripple a thug in Gotham city; the monster shrugged it off and kept swinging. Batman would sidestep two or three swings in a row, then lash back with a punch or two of his own, but ultimately Kisame was gaining more ground.

Every time he moved away, Batman could feel a little bit of his energy sapped away into the sword. At last, an unexpected kick from the Akatsuki landed on Batman's chin, and he rolled back onto his chest. The Caped Crusader quickly jumped up and away, and the stone he had just been occupying crumbled under the weight of the sword.

"You run away too much. That just means more pain when I catch you."

Batman motioned for the monster to come to him, and Kisame laughed bitterly as he obliged.

The swings were faster, harder now. Batman was having a hard time running the man in circles, especially when a particularly energized blow caught him across the chest and neck, the spikes digging in painfully, if only for a moment. But at last, it was time to cage the monster.

Kisame extended his sorry excuse for a sword behind him and let it rip, right into the statue marred by Batman's shuriken. A golden light erupted from the shuriken and glittering chains flew around the sword and the arm baring it.

"Too bad you never imagined I'd be the one to catch you," Batman taunted.

Kisame tugged away from the statue with all his might, growling lowly, but Batman's fist colliding into his face caught his attention very quickly.

"Don't bother!" Batman explained as he pummeled away, "those golden chains are a special, almost forgotten sealing jutsu, they don't allow anything in contact with them to use chakra; not you, not the sword!"

Now Kisame could not merely shrug off the punches, and his blood began to litter the ground, a small red pool beneath him before long. A very enthusiastic strike tore the monster's headband from his face, but that was the last straw.

Kisame's free hand flew like a bolt of lightning, grasping Batman's throat with amazing strength, considering it was unaugmented by chakra. The furious assault was broken as Batman struggled to breath.

"Chains...do not stop me…" Kisame roared squeezing tightly around his enemy's throat, causing blood to spurt up through gritted teeth.

In a burst of adrenaline filled pain, Batman grabbed one more shuriken from his belt and thrust it into the monster's wrist, digging in until the point erupted from the other side. The pressure relented, but not enough to escape.

It was then that both combatants followed up on the same idea, bringing their heads crashing into the other. Even without the headband, Batman was fighting a losing game, and relented after several seconds of an intense lock.

Kisame still had a hold of Batman's throat, but with the aide of his chakra, Batman was able to squirm through the monster's clutches. With a ragged voice, Batman cursed out the name of his attack.

"Wind Style: Pressure Damage!"

The air sprockets tore into his blue skin and red muscles, the pools below got bigger and deeper, but Kisame's limits were still unknown, and if at all possible, it would be best to bring him in alive.

Yet the pain seemed only to serve Kisame rather than Batman. With a loud fury, he tore his arm free of the sword and the golden chains, and rushed at his foe with the very shuriken that had torn into his wrist. Chakra surged through it, lighting it blue and creating a nasty sensation throughout the cavern.

Batman opted to meet him, his shuriken not blazing with chakra, but his confidence as full as ever. The monster was powerful and savage, but intellectually, not enough of a threat to stand.

But before they could collide, a murder of crows swarmed between them stopped them in their tracks.

One or two cawed, and as if he was but a figment, the image of a man Batman feared popped into existence behind Kisame. Batman did not easily fear others, but this man was remarkable in more ways than one, and worthy of such respect.

"He's done good work on you, Kisame."

"Nice of you to finally show up."

Batman wasn't sure what he ought to be more shocked at, the appearance of Itachi Uchiha, or the speed at which Kisame's raging ire turned to calm disposition. Was his fighting fuel really so easily controlled, or was this another sign of the power of the Uchiha?

Either way, two against one was about as hopeless as fighting the Man of Steel without Kryptonite, when his opponents were S-Class Akatsuki criminals. So where was Yamato?

Batman felt the immense dismay of seeing the golden chains destroyed and the massive sword returned to Kisame's possession. What did the raven haired young man even do to destroy his seal?

"Thanks," the monster tipped his partner, "Should I be worried about the one on the ceiling as well?"

So he wasn't so thoughtless after all.

"No. I've already taken care of that as well."

Those damn Sharingan. This was what it really felt like. That time on the last mission was nothing, a cheap imitation. This was the real deal. This was a prime ninja, the likes of which Batman had almost no experience. This was an occasion where he was out of his league, without a reliable partner or team behind him.

More of the black members cawed inside the dark vortex, and something within those red eyes changed.


	8. Battle and Backtrack

**Welcome back to Shinobi Knight, one and all. It took longer than I wanted it to, but I dare say it was a much faster upload than the previous chapter. So continues the story of a Caped Crusader in a world of Ninja. This is really where things start deviating from the story, but it will loop back to the main story...later. I hope you all enjoy, I encourage you to leave reviews, they usually do a good job of motivating me...even the bad ones.**

**I own nothing, except the OCs, I guess. But I don't give a snowflake's f**k beyond the Wall about them. Enjoy *Guess who's been watching too much GoT? **

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"I wonder what it is you are doing here," Itachi spoke from behind the murder of his crows, drawing a kunai before Batman could finish blinking, "so far from friends."

"I don't suppose he's here for the same reason we are," Kisame replied.

"Which is?" Batman inquired grimly.

His answer came when the kunai flew into the heart of an untouched statue, and as the pieces began falling from that epicenter, he realized their purpose fully.

"Those tattooed ninja have been our backs since after the sealing of the One-Tails...nice work in escaping Deidara and the others by the way, never thought Sasori would die like that," Kisame congratulated.

"It seems we share Tanoshi as an enemy," Itachi commented, "however...to let such a shinobi out alive would certainly be detrimental to us later. We'll have to dispose of him, Kisame."

"My pleasure," The Hidden Mist Monster agreed.

The Akatsuki tandem was faster and deadlier than the Monster could hope to be alone, and Batman's only advantage was that if anyone else from Tanoshi interfered, they would be gunning for the Akatsuki duo as much as for him. That said, it was never the fodder than made the difference. Anything but the fodder.

Itachi sent five blows at Batman, three punches he avoided, one kick he blocked, and was blasted away by a second he never saw coming. He flew into the hilt of Kisame's sword, which left a red trail flowing from a new hole in his cape. Batman ducked low to avoid the follow up by the Monster, but Itachi was there before Batman could hope to move, and he was again sent flying, this time crashing through a statue.

Batman rolled with it, and was on his feet and prepared for the next attack, which was another cutting attack from the bandaged sword. A quick evade and smoke bomb disorientated Kisame, but the red eyes in the distance saw through the play, and Itachi met Batman in the curtain of smoke in the air. They clashes and traded many blurred punches, until they kicked away from each other.

Kisame lunged from behind, and Itachi let loose a blur of shuriken; Batman followed his instincts and met Kisame, and his instincts proved his escape from death when a plethora of wooden spears knocked the projectiles aside and tore holes into Itachi's chest.

"What!?" Kisame gasped as Yamato emerged from the darkness his kunai drawing a fine red line down the criminal's back, and allowing the Leaf ninja to regroup.

"Good of you to join me…" Batman muttered as he spit blood onto the ground.

"Sorry, had to wrap up a few loose ends," Yamato replied, putting his back against the Dark Knight's.

That seemed an odd excuse to Batman, but he let it go as the crows flying out of Itachi's fake corpse surrounded them, only for the ex-Leaf shinobi to appear opposite his partner.

"It seems he isn't as alone as we believed," The raven haired man told his monster of a partner.

"That's fine by me. I really need to cut loose. The more the merrier."

The Akatsuki pair held a long silence, merely looking into the eyes of their foes. Batman moved his hand to his belt as subtly as he could against a Sharingan user, while Yamato was gathering chakra in his fists.

For an uncomfortably long amount of time, the only sound was dripping water; most of the statues had been demolished, a few were still standing. Somehow Batman didn't buy their story. The statues may be alternate forms for these Tanoshi tattooed ninja, but this duo seemed a bit much to both come here. Besides that, how fortunate could they have been to have come at the same time he and Yamato arrived?

Suddenly the stillness was shattered, and both Akatsuki came quickly and with force, unleashing powerful jutsu.

Itachi's Fireball raced at them first, while Kisame's Water Shark Bomb followed closely behind. Batman put up a Water Wall to cancel out Itachi's attack, while Yamato erected a wooden blockage for Kisame's jutsu to batter. In the fallout of the four powers clashing, Itachi and Batman both rushed in, unwilling to let the opportunity slip.

With the circle broken, the fight moved into pairs, Itachi and Batman squaring off near the road to the base, while Kisame and Yamato began dueling near the waterfall.

No matter how hard he tried, Batman could not hit Itachi. A fist would be ducked under, a kick side-stepped and returned in kind. Shuriken flung out to the heart would unravel the trap of crows that was Itachi's calling card of illusion. For all he knew, he hadn't actually moved a muscle since looking into the Massacre Perpetrator's face.

Yamato was having the opposite problem. His punches were like paper balls thrown against the blue wall that was Kisame Hoshigake. His jutsu were met with equal force and repelled back, or outright tanked. His endurance was off the charts. On the other hand, a single blow from the Monster sent Yamato reeling.

Both ANBU quickly found themselves retreating to the interior again, and the criminals entrapped them with the rest of the statues.

"Any ideas?" Yamato asked with exasberation.

"Shut up and fight."

"Not much of a plan…"

"No room for retreat, no other options."

"Hence my question. A fight won't end well for us."

"A fight is all we've got."

Yamato sighed and surged a wave of chakra to his center and his hands, "Then let's fight! Wood Style: Infinite Prison!"

Hand signs were weaved in a blur and four pillars sprung up around each cloak-clad criminal, and from each pillar sprung another piece of a cage, and in turn more pieces fell, and showed no signs of stopping. Before either criminal could escape red seals burned into the wood appeared and their chakra was siphoned right back to Yamato.

Within seconds he was on his knees, the weight of their chakra plus his own bearing down on him greatly. Batman removed two scrolls from his person and prepared to end the fight once and for all, but as Itachi slumped into the wall of the ever expanding cell and grasped at his chest, his eye surged with a great struggle, and just before he was completely encased in the wooden prison, Batman lost himself.

He saw himself, read his own thoughts and recognized that there was a sinister motive behind them he did not see in his heart, but he could not stop himself. The sharingan's judgement struck fast and hard.

He threw the scrolls down and fractured Yamato's nose with a single strike, throwing him aside and causing the prison to cease creating itself. Itachi stayed quiet in his darkness, but Kisame was already thumping away at his cage, and it would soon implode.

Before he let loose a follow up blow, Batman bit his lip, drawing blood and causing a stop to the command he was under. Yamato sprung up and held a blade to his throat, but Batman did nothing to resist; that would be too hasty.

"I'm free now, it was genjutsu," he said with as much restraint as he could.

Yamato looked him in the eye a second and let him up as the bandaged sword broke through the reinforced walls. Two monsters broke through the cage, one went to punish his captors, the other ran to free his partner.

"I'll take some of my chakra back now!" Kisame roared, swinging his blade with wild abandon and speed he had yet to unleash in the battle. It took some unsubtle gestures, but the ANBU managed to outmaneuver the Hidden Mist missing nin and get as many shots in between his blows as they could. Seemed the one attacking them was the real one, a clone would've burst into water by now.

Samehada was plunged straight down and broke the ground, but nothing else; Yamato jumped aside and attempted to put a kunai in Kisame's side while Batman jumped over his head and shot a wind jutsu at the cage which was splintering apart under the clone's onslaught.

Kisame grabbed the hand with the kunai in it and pulled Yamato into the blade and attempted to crucify him on it. Yamato used his free hand to fling a couple paper bombs at him, forcing Kisame to leap on top of his upside down sword. The kunai in his hand barely saved him from several more nasty slices, and the little cleavers all along it rustled to get at his flesh.

From his free hand sprung a wooden spear which missed Kisame by a hair's width, when Kisame let Yamato's captive hand go and shoved him away, leaping at him again with Samehada in tow. Yamato could tell almost all the chakra he stole had indeed been taken back while his hand was so close to the legendary sword.

Meanwhile, the wind jutsu tore the clone to tattered sprays of water and the wood was blasted into splinters, but Itachi was nowhere to be seen. Batman braced for the worst as he felt the crows come together behind him. He swung and tore right through their small murder, but a solid foot knocked him away a few paces. Itachi stepped out of the dark fowls, a definite sense of weakness about him. Yamato's trap was quite effective, and if this was any indication, Itachi seemed to be a glass cannon. More power than Batman could hope to muster, but certainly less durable if a small draining of his chakra left him deeply breathing like he was.

Now was the time to strike, he was going to go all out.

Itachi vanished and reappeared above him, but Batman was able to read the move, and blocked successfully. He returned the favor and leaped up beside the killer, throwing several punches, each evaded barely slower than the last. They landed an arm's width apart and Batman did everything in his power to close the gap farther.

Itachi skidded away and flung many kunai, even in this state they soared faster than almost anyone Batman had seen, but he was able to get past them without a scratch. He brought his fist right into Itachi's hand and began to push it backwards. Still, it would be best to keep him moving, but close at hand. Wear him down and pull him back in.

They danced with each other and Batman was able to do just that for a time, chasing Itachi all around but keeping him close, and yet Itachi seemed to be regaining himself and soon was throwing counter attacks at him too frequently, and Batman pushed hard one final time.

He ended up breaking the face of a shadow clone as the real Itachi brought his knee into Batman's back, then added a chop to the neck which sent him staggering. They locked with each other again, and Itachi had seemingly gone back up to almost perfect condition. Whether Batman was toying with a clone the whole time or if there had been a subtle switch somewhere along the line he didn't know, but felt foolish all the same.

He drilled himself onwards, and was getting closer to making a breakthrough. A small moment of triumph came when he actually managed to kick the villain away, though just after one of Itachi's strikes turned his head and drew a small leak of life in his mouth.

He then found himself back to back with Yamato, who was soaked and firing off a barrage of wooden cuffs which were not going to bind Kisame for very long, if at all, in Batman's estimation.

The Monster set off more water missiles, but Batman and Yamato used each other to evade and dodge, and managed to escape the frenzy.

Batman suddenly found himself envious of the criminals, in that they hardly needed to trade words to communicate. Was it Robin or Nightwing or Batgirl with him, Batman wouldn't need to talk nearly as much either, but Yamato was unreadable at most times, much harder to predict. There was no room for guesswork in a battle like this, but as he had just said, this was all they could do.

Suddenly, Kisame was under him, Itachi was above, and his partner was failing to block the other side of the horizontal sword swing that was driving the Caped Crusader right into Itachi's hand. The fingers were surprisingly strong as they wrapped around the back of his neck and squeezed, and he felt his arm go numb almost at once.

Yamato was sent flying through another of the statues, blood trailing from his hands. With his good hand, Batman latched onto Itachi's, and attempted to throw him into the ground; Itachi's other hand struck Batman's face and the Akatsuki landed gracefully, while Batman staggered away. He had only a second to undo the nerve attack on his neck and then react from Itachi's frontwards attack, bolstered by Kisame's backside assault.

He let the smoke bomb he'd grabbed from his belt fall and instantly created a Syrup Trap, which proved completely ineffective against Itachi, who saw it under the screen with his Sharingan. Kisame stepped a foot in it though, and even a water style user of his level had trouble getting out.

Yamato's wood clone engaged Itachi as Batman leaped above the Monster and activated a Water Prison, much to Kisame's aggravation. This was a move Yamato could read, and he quickly shot wooden spears into the prison, drawing blood and turning the water purple.

Separate and conquer, it was a winning strategy, but each iteration would only work once. The wood clone fell into a smoldering heap, and Itachi's fireball raced to free Kisame, who emerged wet and bloodied, but more angry than anything. He took a moment to tear off his cloak and remove the wooden weapons while Itachi and two of his shadow clones kept the ANBU occupied.

Now on the defensive, Batman and Yamato took turns striking out with random attacks while the other covered their backs, but after a few rounds, they had only gotten one clone and Kisame was removing the last of the shards from his chest. It did not escape their notice that the wounds seemed already to be healing.

The Itachi clone and the authentic, whichever one was which, locked blades with the ANBU, who were once more forced into a back to back position.

"You guys have been fun, but I think we can safely end things here," Kisame announced himself back into the fray, leaping over his partner and crushing the floor where the ANBU had stood before leaping away.

"Yes, this has gone on long enough," Itachi concurred, sending the copy, or perhaps the authentic, behind the Leaf ninja, both of them performing rapidly fast seals; Kisame went at it as well, at a more reasonable pace.

Yamato erected a Water Wall to the side of one Itachi, while Batman used a Wind Style Devastation storm to disrupt the other Itachi and Kisame. But no jutsu came from the Akatsuki.

It was a farce, and Leaf duo realized it far too late, and the criminals were upon them before they could do anything.

The Itachi team went to work on Batman as soon as he lowered his hands, and they didn't miss a beat: a kick to the face from above, a kick to the back of the knee from behind, a flip over turned into a throw, which landed him right into the other's fist. One blocked a counter move, the other exposed the opening and thrust a kunai into Batman's arm, then evaded the retaliation that was a missed kick; all of this gave the second Itachi the chance to knee Batman in the face and allow the real prodigy and his double to deliver a devastating dual kick which sent Batman shattering through the final statue and rolling towards the far above complex.

Near the waterfall, Yamato and his wood clone were battling Kisame and a water clone, but both copies were dispatched Kisame sent a broad horizontal swing crashing into all three of the others. Yamato landed on the waterfall and prepared to rocket back at the killer, when a second Kisame water clone appeared above him in the water and thrust the hilt of the fake Samehada into his neck.

Yamato fell back to the ledge and into Kisame's outstretched hand, which crushed Yamato's throat with ease, causing blood to spurt out and breath to be lost instantly. Batman attempted to get up, but fell to the stone floor before making it off his knees. Kisame swung the captive and now mute ANBU over his head and into the floor, a large crater forming from the point of impact.

A deadly smile was on Kisame's face as he took a half step to the side and hovered his blade over the defenseless Black Ops ninja, who spurt out blood with a pathetic noise as the blades on the swords dug into his stomach. Kisame raised it and swung again, and Batman could actually hear most of Yamato's ribcage exploding as the second large crater formed. He was as good as dead, and that was something Batman would not lay idly for.

He willed himself to move, and dashed forwards past the closer Itachi, and preparing to do whatever he had to against the second in order to save his comrade, who was still squirming under the pain of Kisame's sword.

But Batman could never have predicted the second Itachi was the clone, or that it would explode as soon as he got in range. His cape was burned to a crisp, as was much of his outfit, particularly on the left side, where his arm and leg showed badly burned skin as he rolled away. The cowl itself was half fried, but miraculously his face was mostly intact.

The real Itachi looked absolutely impassive as he watched his partner destroy Yamato with Batman laying behind him. The Monster was bloodthirsty now, and Yamato was the unwilling sacrifice. This was the failure Bruce had sworn never again to feel. He hardly knew this man, but the things they'd done tonight...it was enough to warrant saving. More than enough. But in the end, Itachi was stronger than either of them, and Kisame was an even match.

Kisame hooked the blade into Yamato's now soaking red chest again and lifted him high.

_I'm sorry...Lord Danzo...everyone…..looks like this is the end for me. I failed….Hnn._

The small blades retracted from the broken armor and fledgling cloth, and within the span of a second, the blade moved from Yamato's chest to his throat, and Kisame thrust it down with as much power as he could. The ledge under Yamato gave way and fell down with the rushing water, but they all saw Yamato's head come clean off and launch behind the falling waves, looking pained and sorrowful, but somehow satisfied. It was tough to know what dead men thought of as the trigger was pulled against them.

Batman didn't hear himself scream, but he knew he did, and he saw his outstretched hand reaching in vain to save Yamato. He had to give one last attempt. He _had_ to try, even, or perhaps most especially, when it was sure to be in vain.

But it was painfully clear when the headless corpse fell with the crushed ledge that Yamato was beyond saving, and Batman wasn't positive about it, but he swore the body went up in flames as it plummeted downwards.

Itachi looked less passive, more bothered somehow. Maybe Batman imagined that too, his logical side was still struggling to take back the reigns of control from the shock. He did the only thing he could do, despite the risk it entailed.

"Farewell," Itachi said as he threw several kunai towards the Dark Knight's chest. They hit solid stone amidst a great puff of smoke as Batman once again escaped through reverse summoning.

And then everything went black, and he was taken from one forsaken hole in the ground to another.

He did not pass out, but the place he came out in was so dark he only knew he existed because he could hear himself breathing heavily. He wanted to pick himself up, but his body denied him, and he lay on the cold, damp ground of rock, undisturbed, and he hoped he would remain that way.

His head was spinning as his mind attempted to keep himself motivated and remember that horrible expression on his partner's face. He had seen comrades die, he was not a stranger to death's cold sting. No, he'd brushed by it too many times to count, even in this world of ninja. But never had a partner been so utterly let down because of his failure.

It burned in him, like the red in that man's eyes. Itachi was stronger than he was, despite any limitations the Uchiha heir might have. If he was the sort of ninja caliber the Akatsuki, and possibly Tanoshi, were bringing to the war, then Yamato would not be the last ally Batman would have to watch fall. He would likely fall himself unless he got a lot better in a short span of time.

There were a few ways to get that done, true enough...but at what cost did the power come at? What lengths would he go to defeat the Itachis of the world?

A sudden screech raised his head, and became the motivation his body needed to stand. Slowly, painfully, he got to his feet, and felt the gravity weigh down on him, trying nonstop to push him off his feet and down through the gates of an unpleasant predicament. It was not easy, but he forced himself to take the first step upwards, and he slowly marched up the incline, one shaky foot at a time, peering back every time he heard the shrieking cry that he wanted with all his heart to escape.

The loud cries came all the more frequently in the cylindrical hole he was getting ever closer to emerging from. It would be a few days after he escaped to make it to the Village Hidden in the Leaves, but frankly, in the state he was in, it would be more preferable than facing the beasts behind him. He was incredibly lucky to have escaped their clutches just hours before.

When the loudest shriek yet rang all around him and he heard the fluttering of leather wings, he knew it would be futile to try and get out, he was just too far away. True to himself, however, he did not stop walking forward until he was grabbed and flown into the darkness of the hole, the sharp fangs sticking into his tender abdomen and back, adding his grunt to the sea of sounds within the vast cave of giant bats.

He was carried over a vast ravine, with no lights save for the very few and far between reflections of pale moonlight that pervaded the grand stone ceiling. There was no telling how many members of the colony were brooding below, but he was carried up, towards the spire of their cave where the King Bat ruled from. His throne was the largest moon-bathed stalactite, encrusted with many old symbols and a few gemstones which gleamed in the white rays. He was covered in shadows that made him all the more fearsome, and it seemed Batman's intrusion had awoken him, for he poked his head out from his wings as Batman was turned upside down so that he could look the King in the eyes like any member of the colony would.

"Ah….you've returned to us. We missed you the last time," The King grumbled.

He had accepted his fate, there was no turning this around now. He just had to say what needed to be said. The fact that these bats were hematophagic did not phase him. It couldn't.

"...Take it."

The King laughed. The servant holding him did not so much as blink as the meeting went on. He grimaced.

"We do not need your permission to feed," The King declared, "and rest assured I will have them drink your life in due time. It is the price for bonding with our kind."

"I came to escape a tough spot, I don't need you to put me in another."

"It is a travesty to see humans come to our sacred home. Every time it happens we must mark the throne, and you have caused too many marks already."

"It's the price of our bond."

"You think yourself a bat by name and by nature? You cannot fly, or thrive in the darkness as we do, or even feed on the spoils of your enemies. In other words, you presume far too much, man."

"If all you want to do is demean and mock me, we can do it some other time. Send me back to Konoha, or take my blood and be done with it."

The King bared his fangs, the largest of which easily surpassed the length and width of Batman's own arms.

"Do not instigate us."

"Don't instigate me."

The tension in the air was shocking for the nature of their positions. At full strength, Batman could surely break away from the servant, but escaping even in top shape was improbable at best. In this rugged and worn time, he could barely hope to escape the mouth baring into his core. But this threat was just the attitude the King would respect.

The Bat King laughed deeply and carved another symbol into his place with the claws on his feet.

"Sometimes I am glad I did not eat you...you prove yourself amusing more often than I believed possible. We will talk more later...and then I will send you on your way," The King turned to the servant just as the blood was really beginning to noticeably fall through Batman's veins.

"Take him to the Ledge, ensure he remains content there. I will speak when the hunters return from the scavenge."

The bat holding the Caped Crusader hostage obeyed without word or hesitation, and flew him back down towards the bottomless darkness filled to the brim with hungry cries of bat after bat. And then he was turned through a small hole in the wall and emerged in a very lonely place, where he could go nowhere but the ledge about the size of Wayne Manor's side garden, everywhere else was an all encompassing and bitterly long darkness. The screeching of the colony was softer here by far, but kept his ears occupied as he sat in the vast shadow of expanse that was the King's mercy.


End file.
